Asphinctopone silvestrii Santschi
Type location Nigeria (Santschi, 1914d: 318, illustrated,
worker) collected at Olokemeji by F. Silvestri, in 1913; worker only
described (see Bolton, 1995)
 .
Santschi's description (1914d, 318, my translation) is -
WORKER - TL 3.7 mm; colour yellow rust. Pubescence very sparse on the
body, moderate on the legs. Few erect hairs except around the mouth
and the gastral apex. Shiny. smooth with fine somewhat serrated
puncturation on the head, very discrete on the rest of the body.
Propodeum more reddish and with several large elongated punctures.
Head slightly longer than wide, by about a quarter; sides and
posterior border feebly convex and the angles rounded. Eye of 4-5
facets, shorter than the width of the scape and set in the anterior
third of the head. The two frontal lobes are split in the middle by a
small groove with indents at both anterior and posterior ends. the
frontla notch feebly marked and reaching the middle of the face.
Clypeus with a strong carina which descends perpendicularly to the
anterior border and is arcuate in profile. In the median two quarters
the clypeus projects as a subrectangular lobe with strong dentate
anterior angles. Mandibles smooth, with five strong teeth, the
external border near straight and strongly curved towards the apex.
The scape does not reach the the occiput. Funiculus with the first
segment conical, nearly twice as long as broad; segments 2-9 much
shorter than wide; the tenth a little longer and the apical segment as
long as the preceding five combined. Pronotum convex and rounded on
the sides and in front; strongly narrowed behind and much wider than
long. Promesonotal suture deep. Mesonotum a transverse oval, almost
twice as wide as long, quite strongly convex, as high in front as the
pronotum and descending posteriorly. Metanotal suture slightly larger
and deeper than the promesontal suture. Propodeum dorsum narrow, about
one-third longer than wide, convex from front to back, shorter than
the declivity which is very oblique and bordered. Petiole scale as
high as the gaster and wider than the propodeum; narrowed at the sides
which are blunt and the summit a little acuminate; posterior face
convex from top to bottom and inclined awkwardly, anterior face
straight from top to bottom and convex across. Gaster without any
narrowing behind the first segment, arcuate ventrally and the base
obliquely truncated ventrally. Coxae robust and legs short.
Nigeria, Olokomeji, xii.1912, collector F. Silvestri; a single
worker.
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 Bernard
(1952) noted it as from Ivory Coast, Dimbroko, apparently
referring to the Santschi paper.
In Nigeria found by Bolton from a black-rotten, very wet
banana trunk near Ibadan (Bolton, 1973a).
Collected in Ghana, 6 workers, from leaf litter in the
semi-deciduous forest zone - under cocoa at Ofinso, and under primary
and secondary forest at Bunso - by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).
Now known from Cameroun, collected by the Campo Forest study
(Bolton, Dejean & Ngnegueu, 1992), one instance from an abandoned
termitarium of Cubitermes banksi.
The photomontage is collated from
http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0406793
Collection details - Locality: Central African Republic:
Prefecture Sangha-Mbaéré; Parc National Dzanga-Ndoki,
Mabéa Bai, 21.4 km 53° NE Bayanga; 03°02'00"N
016°24'36"E, 510m. Collection Information: Collection codes:
BLF4000. Date: 1-7 May 2001. Collected by: B.L.Fisher. Method: EC19
sifted litter. Habitat: rainforest. Transect Type: MW 50 sample
transect, 5m Transect Sample No.: 26.
Other images of Ivory Coast specimens can be seen at
www.discoverlife.org
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