Paratrechina grisoni (Forel)
Type location Zaïre (Prenolepis grisoni,
Forel, 1916: 440, illustrated, worker) from Bengamisa, by H Kohl;
subspecies fuscula (Menozzi, 1942: 178, worker) from Fernando
Po I; worker only
 .
Forel's (1916) description is at
 ;
and Menozzi's (1942) description of fuscula is at
 .
Bequaert (1922, p 407) cited it as among the ants found in
myrmecophilous plants by Father Kohl, near Kisangani
(Stanleyville) and recognised by Forel (1916). |
Nigeria specimens (as Paratrechina
species 3, Taylor, 1978: 29). WORKER. TL 2.05 mm, HL
0.57, HW 0.49, SL 0.65, PW 0.37
Overall colour
chestnut-brown, shiny. No pubescence but erect hairs abundant on
both head and gaster, several small hairs outside main line of
four pairs of hairs on dorsal alitrunk. Propodeum hemispherical in
profile. Promesonotal and metanotal sutures distinct; mesothoracic
spiracle on a small prominence.
Nests in soil, including collections of soil in tree crevices.
In Nigeria, it can be relatively common on cocoa, on
0.1-1.0% of cocoa trees, but apparently unaffected by the presence
of any dominant ant species (Taylor, 1977). It is an avid tender
of aphids over which it constructs soil and debris tents, a small
proportion of which were found to be associated with cocoa black
pod disease (Taylor & Griffin, 1981). Also found foraging on
the ground, and on kola and oil palm.
Also found in Ghana, on leaf litter under cocoa at the
Mampong Cemetery farm, and nesting in same site, plus sampled once
from cocoa canopy in the wider survey (Room, 1971). Eleven workers
were collected from the ground at CRIG by Bigger (1981a).
|
 The
photomontage is collated from
http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0414362
Collection Information: Specimen Code CASENT0414362: Locality
Central African Republic: Prefecture Sangha-Mbaéré:
Parc National Dzanga-Ndoki, 39.6 km 174° S Lidjombo; 02°21'03"N
016°08'50"E 340 m; Collection codes: BLF04146; Date:
20-28 May 2001; Collected by: B.L.Fisher; Method: EC19 sifted
litter; Habitat: rainforest, seasonally flooded riparian; Transect
Type: MW 50 sample transect, 5m.
|
The
photomontage is of a specimen from Congo, Brazzaville,
pitfall trapped by Yves Braet & Eric Nzassi, 2007.