Phasmomyrmex (Myrmacantha) aberrans (Mayr)
Type location Ghana (Camponotus aberrans nov.s
pec., Mayr, 1895: 152, queen only); worker from Zaïre,
Kilempaka (Great Lakes Region - perhaps near Kataki, Lake
Tanganyika), by Dr Gérard (Santschi, 1915c: 264); (see
Bolton, 1995) .
Mayr's (1895) description of the queen is at
.
Santschi's (1915c) description of the worker is at
.
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Nigeria specimen (Taylor, 1978: 13). Monomorphic but with
a considerable size range. WORKER.TL 5.89-7.38 mm, HL 1.43-1.87,
HW 1.43-1.93, SL 1.37-1.80, PW 1.00-1.40
Colour black with orange extremities, shiny. Erect hairs short,
absent from alitrunk and very sparse on head and gaster. Overall
sculpturation of foveolate reticulation, coarsest on the head,
size reducing to a fine puncturation on the gaster. Alitrunk with
sides clearly marginate, plus paired upturned propodeal teeth.
Metanotal groove a wide shallow depression. Petiole a scale with
an acute central node and lateral processes with bifurcate teeth.
I found it nesting in dead wood on an
indigenous tree at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre. |
Also
from the Congo areas (Wheeler, 1922).
Found in Ghana cocoa at Kade by Majer (1975, 1976b), by
pkd, apparently two samples with 14-15 workers per sample. Eight
workers were collected by canopy pkd in one area of a block of
mature Amelonado cocoa at CRIG by Bigger (1981a). A specimen from
Ghana is pictured in Hölldobler & Wilson (1990, page
139), and attributed to Bolton (unpublished).
The photomontage is collated from -
http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0403556
Collection details - Central African Republic: Prefecture
Sangha-Mbaéré; Parc National Dzanga-Ndoki, 37.9 km
169° S Lidjombo; 02°22'14"N 016°10'21"E
360m Collection Information: Collection codes: BLF4128. Date:
20-28 May 2001. Collected by: B.L.Fisher. Method: EC30 beating low
vegetation. Habitat: rainforest. Transect Type: Beat 25 sample
transect, 10m Transect Sample No.: 06. |
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