Hypoponera punctatissima (Roger)

Type location Germany (Ponera punctatissima, Roger, 1859: 246, illustrated, worker & queen; "in hothouses", Wheeler, 1922); subspecies indifferens (Forel, 1895c: 245, worker & queen) and jugata (Forel, 1892l: 251, queen) from Madagascar; junior synonyms androgyna (Roger, 1859: 246, footnote, male) from Germany, exacta (Santschi, 1923a: 134, worker) from Morocco, schauinslandi (Emery, 1899d: 439, queen) from Hawaii, and tarda (Charsley, 1877: 162, worker & queen) from Great Britain; all forms described (combination in Hypoponera, Taylor, 1967; see Bolton, 1995) .

Roger's (1859, 1860) description is at . Emery (1909c: 373) gave an illustrated description, this is at . Santschi (1921e) gave an illustrated description, this is at . Santschi (1923a) gave a further note, with a naming of exacta, this is at . He accepted that the length of the scape varied between populations and was often shorter than in his (1921e) drawing, which he said was of exacta.

WORKER (Nigeria specimens) - TL 2.46 mm, HL 0.58, HW 0.47, SL 0.39, PW 0.34
Colour dark yellow-brown, shiny with dense pilosity. Eyes absent. Metanotal groove distinct.

Bernard's key (1952) has it as - TL 2.5-3.0, head large, with convex sides; clypeus and thorax matt, dull red; mandibles with 5 large, spaced out, teeth.

Wheeler (1922) listed it from Guinea (Conakry, by F. Silvestri) and Nigeria (Olokemeji and Lagos, by F. Silvestri).

In Nigeria, I collected from in an old tree stump, in dead wood and in soil, some 5-7 cm deep, at CRIN. Now, the Bernard key still leads my specimen to this species, albeit with a lighter colour.

Also found in Ghana in open ground under Lantana tangle; and from leaf litter and nesting in dead wood on the ground under cocoa at the Mampong Cemetery farm (Room, 1971). Reported to have fighting ergatoid males (Hamilton, 1979; in Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990, page 185).

Collingwood (1985, illustrated), reporting it from Saudi Arabia, noted that the frontal furrow on the face continues as a thin line.

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0005437
Collection details - Locality: USA: Yolo County, California; 8km W Woodland; 00°00'00"N 000°00'00"E 30m. Collection Information: Collection codes: PSW8281. Date: 8 May 1986. Collected by: P.S.Ward. Method: sifted litter. Habitat: riparian woodland.