Crematogaster (Atopogyne) buchneri Forel

Type location Angola (Forel, 1894b: 94, worker; Emery, 1899e: 479, queen), collector Dr Buchner; subspecies composita (Santschi, 1933b: 101, worker) from Zaïre, graeteri (Forel, 1916: 409, worker) from Zaïre, at St. Gabriel, by Kohl; and uasina (Santschi, 1935b: 271, worker) from Kenya; junior synonyms halli (Donisthorpe, 1945b: 268, worker) from Ghana, collected by H.E. Box, Bunsu, 1.i.1945, reportedly from hollow stem domatia of Canthium glabrifolium, named in honour of W.J. Hall, and polymorphica (Weber, 1943c: 357, worker) from Sudan - new status .

Forel's (1894b) description is at . Arnold (1920a: 520) provided a translation, this is at . Santschi's (1933b) description of composita is at . Santschi's (1935b) description of uasina is at . Donisthorpe's (1945b) description of halli is at . Weber's (1943c) description of polymorphica is at .

Forel (1916) separated graeteri as - workers, TL 2.7-3.6 mm; propodeal spines shorter than type, about equal in length to 1/3 the inter-base distance; the truncated portion of the mesonotum in very abrupt, forming a near right angle with the dorsum; St Gabriel, Congo, collected by Kohl, in myrmecophile plants.

WORKER (Nigeria specimens) - size variable TL 2.68-4.26 mm; largest HL 1.03, HW 1.00, SL 0.78, PW 0.65
Colour usually dark brown-black. Sculpturation of coarse striations on the lateral mesonotum. Relatively coarse pilosity, erect hairs mainly on the head and gaster. Alitrunk profile with pronotum square shouldered, mesonotum carina well developed, descent to metanotal groove steep to near vertical, groove deeply impressed. Propodeal spines relatively narrow and blunt with a prominent spiracle at their base. Postpetiole with rectangular lower anterior corners.
Emery (1899e) provided a drawing of the head of the major.

It builds large carton nests on certain forest trees, and less often on cocoa trunks. Eguagie (1975) reported a nest population of 46,662 workers and 141 alate queens and males, plus 1400 larvae and 1869 pupae. Forages off the nest trees on to cocoa and other adjacent trees. Tends pseudococcids.

Wheeler (1922) also recorded it from Cameroun (by Conradt). The photomontage is of a specimen collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 116 from location Kouedjina, 17 February 2000; no details. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

Although not very common in Nigeria, it can be a dominant species (Taylor, 1977). Eguagie (1971) found it at Araromi and Moor Plantation near Ibadan, and reported it as being physically destructive on cocoa (chewing the surface of young pods), kola and wild host plants (Eguagie, 1973, 1975).

In Ghana, Strickland (1951a) found that at CRIG what he describes as the depressa-buchneri group was more common (218 collections) than africana (27 collections) but less so than striatula (778 collections). He lists numerous other host forest trees, plus citrus and kola. Bolton (1970-71) listed it as one of the six most common carton-nesting Crematogaster species on cocoa (simply at CRIG or in Ghana is not clear) and noted that it was a common species. Leston (1973) also regarded it as a dominant. It was collected by Room (1971) in 13 of his 168 canopy samples at cocoa farms; he notes that it was rarer than he had expected from its status as a dominant. Room also reported its occurrence on cocoa mistletoe - being third most abundant insect, with 15,158 workers, from 87 of 630 samples of the mistletoe/cocoa junction (ranked 7th), and 26 of 175 samples of mistletoe plants (ranked 11th) (Room, 1972a, b, 1975). Majer found it in only 1.4% of his 144 pkd samples at Kade, but with over 2000 workers per sample (1975, 1976a, b, c). Bigger (1981a) lists it as found on 4.7% of cocoa trees in a survey of 338 trees at 29 scattered sites with swollen shoot virus.

Strickland (1951a) added that the depressa-buchneri group was essentially African, from Ivory Coast east to the equatorial forests of Sudan.

The photomontage of polymorphica Weber (1943c) is collated from http://mcz-28168.oeb.harvard.edu/mcz/FMPro?-DB=Image.fm&-Lay=web&-Format=images.htm&Species_ID=26140&-Find. These show that it is a junior synonym of buchneri and not of africana.