Crematogaster (Decacrema) petiolidens Forel

Type location Zaïre (Cremastogaster (Decacrema) petiolidens n. sp., Forel, 1916: 412, worker) collected by H. Kohl; worker only described .

Forel's (1916) description is at .

Found on Ghana cocoa at Kade by Majer (1975, 1976b), using pkd, with 14 workers in one sample.

Crematogaster (Decacrema) species T³ - most likely = petiolidens

Nigeria specimens. WORKER. TL 1.87 mm, HL 0.54, HW 0.50, SL 0.36, PW 0.31 (Taylor, 1979: 21)
Colour orange, darkening posteriorly, gastral apex near black. Shiny, unsculptured. Erect hairs fine and sparse. Pilosity very sparse on the head and gaster. Alitrunk convex in profile, metanotal grove slightly impressed, propodeal spines long, acute and upturned. Petiole trapezoidal in dorsal view, corners acute, subpetiolar spine relatively long with a rounded apex. Postpetiole with a slight longitudinal depression.

In Nigeria, it nests in dead wood and under dry bark. Occasionally found on cocoa (rare) and native shrubs, also on coffee. Entwistle (1972) lists a Crematogaster (Decacrema) species as among the ants which tend mealybugs in Nigeria but he gives no other details.

The photomontages are of specimens collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 62 from location TM, 10 April 2001, from caulinary domatia of Leonardoxa africana africana. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

Second specimen

Crematogaster (Decacrema) species 563

Listed by Room (1971) from cocoa canopy and mistletoe at the Mamfe-Mampong cocoa farm in Ghana. This may be the species referred to but not named in any way by Strickland (1951a), as being taken eight times in association with mealybugs on cocoa at CRIG.