Hypoponera punctatissima (Roger)

Type location Germany (Ponera punctatissima, Roger, 1859: 246, illustrated, worker & queen; "in hothouses", Wheeler, 1922); subspecies indifferens (Forel, 1895c: 245, worker & queen) and jugata (Forel, 1892l: 251, queen) from Madagascar; junior synonyms androgyna (Roger, 1859: 246, footnote, male) from Germany, exacta (Santschi, 1923a: 134, worker) from Morocco, schauinslandi (Emery, 1899d: 439, queen) from Hawaii, and tarda (Charsley, 1877: 162, worker & queen) from Great Britain; all forms described (combination in Hypoponera, Taylor, 1967; see Bolton, 1995) .

Roger's (1859, 1860) description is at . Emery (1909c: 373) gave an illustrated description, this is at . Santschi (1921e) gave an illustrated description, this is at . Santschi (1923a) gave a further note, with a naming of exacta, this is at . He accepted that the length of the scape varied between populations and was often shorter than in his (1921e) drawing, which he said was of exacta.

Bernard's key (1952) has it as - TL 2.5-3.0, head large, with convex sides; clypeus and thorax matt, dull red; mandibles with 5 large, spaced out, teeth.

Wheeler (1922) listed it from Guinea (Conakry, by F. Silvestri) and Nigeria (Olokemeji and Lagos, by F. Silvestri).

Nigeria specimens (Taylor, 1976: 21). WORKER. TL 2.46 mm, HL 0.58, HW 0.47, SL 0.39, PW 0.34
Colour dark yellow-brown, shiny with dense pilosity. Eyes absent. Metanotal groove distinct.
I collected from in an old tree stump, in dead wood and in soil, some 5-7 cm deep, the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre. The Bernard key still leads my specimen to this species, albeit with a lighter colour.

Also found in Ghana in open ground under Lantana tangle; and from leaf litter and nesting in dead wood on the ground under cocoa at the Mampong Cemetery farm (Room, 1971). Reported to have fighting ergatoid males (Hamilton, 1979; in Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990, page 185).

Collingwood (1985, illustrated), reporting it from Saudi Arabia, noted that the frontal furrow on the face continues as a thin line.

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0005437
Collection details - Locality: USA: Yolo County, California; 8km W Woodland; 00°00'00"N 000°00'00"E 30m. Collection Information: Collection codes: PSW8281. Date: 8 May 1986. Collected by: P.S.Ward. Method: sifted litter. Habitat: riparian woodland.