Dorylus (Anomma) ornatus (Santschi)

Type location Cameroon (Dorylus (Anomma) nigricans st. burmeisteri var. ornata, in text by Santschi, 1912b: 161); Bolton has this as "unavailable name" .

Considered by Santschi (1912b, quoted in Raignier & van Boven, 1955) as a form intermediate between rubellus and rufescens, a somewhat odd statement (R & vB) but it was held at the time that rufescens was a variety of burmeisteri. Santschi briefly noted how - it recalls rufescens by its shape and colour but the head is shiny in all individuals, as in rubella. I take as the type of the variety ornata some examples from Cameroun (communicated by Emery) with the colour wine-red with a sharp black anterior border to the head. Raignier & van Boven commented how the resolution of the validity of forms based on colour variation needed more samples than they had before them [the latter is held here as no more than pale specimens of burmeisteri, see above].

The photomontages are of specimens from Tanzania and Uganda. The former were from Mahale forest, collected by S. Uehara, 5 March 2002; they match Santschi's colour description very well. Specimens were collected also on 2 March 2002 and 8 March 2002 but only the 5 March specimens included the major morph. See the Website for details of the research and location.

The number of specimens of all morphs, see the polymorphism montage below, the consistency of the bright colour among all the specimens, and the collection from three locations argue for this as a valid species. In October 2003, Professor Uehara sent me further samples with three sets of specimens from the Kalinzu Forest, Uganda (30°07'E 0°17'S); all the sets matching the characters I have described below.

Polymorphism -

Full new description - Mahale 05-03-02 (dimensions, others without major morphs), Mahale 02-03-02 and Mahale 08-03-02

Overall - all over shiny to polished rich chestnut, darkest on apical gaster and front of head; appendages golden chestnut
TL 9.9 HW 3.0 HL 3.0 HD 1.5 CI 100 SL 1.25 SI 42 AL 3.0 PW 1.25 PetL 0.65 GL 3.25 MFL 2.4
Head - widest at about 1/4 length, narrowing to 2/3 at posterior; sides smoothly convex; posterior margindeep near semicircular scallop, posterior corners sharply rounded; sculpturation very highly polished, almost totally effaced spiculation visible only in oblique light; minutest of sparse hair pits; median line barely visible, most noticeable as raised line in mid-occiput; clypeal margin very slightly sinuous, with several long very fine hairs; mandible long and slender, no subapical teeth or denticles, basal tooth moderately sized equilateral triangle; scape relatively narrow, broadening from base to apex, shiny, with sparse fine pilosity; funiculus all segments not much longer than wide, bristly; head profile with dorsum bulbous, with concave frontal area; venter in two distinct planes, anterior shallowly convex, posterior 1/3 flat and angled to posterolateral processes smaller than in wilverthi; minute stout hairs from hair pits.
Alitrunk - short and highly domed distinct "saddle"; spiracle large circular and distinctly rearward facing; propodeum smoothly curved front to back with no change in curve from dorsum into declivity; metapleural gland upper flange hardly longer than lower; overall shiny matte due to spiculation; minute sparse stout hairs on shoulders.
Petiole - relatively short with all edges rounded; distinct posteroventral process; in dorsal view posterior about 1/3 wider than anterior; spiracle small but very distinctly raised; ventral moderate angular process; sculpturation as alitrunk; hairs single pair on dorsum, few ventrally.
Gaster - base as petiole, rest smooth and shiny ; hairs not many dorsally, but the same distinct micro, stout pilosity as pronotum and head.
Legs - coxae relatively long; femora relatively long broad and shiny, micropilosity as elsewhere; tibiae relatively long and broad apically, finely bristly; tarsi moderately thick, bristly, exceptionally heavy claws, last segment very hairy.

Minima morph
Head colour dark red chestnut, with distinct margin to anterior yellow brown; dorsum with fine decumbent incurved pilosity; scape dark yellow brown, apex lighter; funiculus yellow-brown, short and stout with segments dark edged.

Arnold (1952) commented on a queen and workers taken together at Kinganop, Kenya, by Mrs V Fey. I have adapted his illustration (right) (see also . Arnold titled his paper as a note on "a Female Dorylus (Anomma) Nigricans Ill. taken with workers" and labelled the illustration "Anomma nigricans var. molesta" (now molestus), arguing that, according to the key produced by Santschi (1912), because the posterior angles of the petiole are prolonged backwards, they must be molestus. My interpretation (2007) is that they are quadratus. Under Dorylus (Anomma) molestus, I show that species has a distinctive narrow, parallel-sided petiole and does not have posteroventral extensions on the petiole. Moreover, the head shape of the major in Arnold's picture and the female match the illustrations I use here; the latter being that of Raignier & van Boven. Essentially, I feel the same way about the specimens described by van Boven (1972) as molestum (molestus) [see ], which to me are not molestus but quadratus