Meranoplus inermis Emery

Type location South Africa (Emery, 1895h: 41, illustrated, promesonotal shield only worker); junior synonyms affinis (as nanus ssp similis, Karavaiev, 1931d: 44, illustrated, worker; replacement name for unavailable similis by Baroni Urbani, 1971b: 361) from Kenya, kiboshana (Forel, 1907a: 12, worker) and nanior (Forel, 1907a: 12, worker; Viehmeyer, 1922: 309, queen) also from Kenya, and soriculus (Wheeler, 1922: 184, illustrated, worker & queen) from Zaïre (see Bolton, 1995) .

Emery's (1895h) description is at . Arnold (1917: 365) gave a translation, this is at . Forel's (1907a) description of nanior and kiboshana is at . Arnold (1917: 366) gave an illustrated translation of nanior, this is at . Karavaiev's (1931d) illustrated description of "similis" is at . Bolton's modern description (1981a) is at

WORKER (Nigeria specimen) - TL 2.8 mm, HL 0.70, HW 0.72, SL 0.37, PW 0.78 (previously in my guide as Meranoplus nanus).
Colour brown. Faint longitudinal, widely spaced rugae on the head and dorsal promesonotum. Clypeal margin shallowly concave. Posterior margin of promesonotal shelf with an outer pair of large blunt teeth and an inner pair of smaller, sharper teeth. Circular spiracle openings laterally at the junction of the pro- and mesonotum, median circular light area near the border of the posterior shelf or shield.

Bolton (1981a, illustrated, alitrunk profile and a range of variations in the promesonotal shield) described it as one of the two commonest members of the genus in Africa; found nesting in the ground in wooded or forested areas almost throughout the continent. Wheeler (1922) illustrated (left) and described the subspecies soriculus noting that Mr. Lang reported that these ants "build small crater nest in the plantations", the nest being some 7 cm wide and no more than 15 cm deep.

In Nigeria, collected from under a rotten banana stem at CRIN (B. Bolton). Elsewhere in Nigeria at Mokwa (C. Longhurst) and Ile-Ife (J.T. Medler) (Bolton, 1981a).

In Ghana, Strickland (1948, 1951a) described it (as M. nanus) as not being found in his quantitative work, but collected three times at CRIG, twice attending a mixed colony of aphids and mealybugs (Planococcoides njalensis) on cocoa. Bolton (1981a) listed findings at Kibi and Asamankese (D. Leston; CRIG (H.E. Box); and Mampong (P. Room). The last presumably was from those collected from open ground at the Mampong Cemetery farm (Room, 1971). Belshaw & Bolton (1994) collected a single specimen from leaf litter at CRIG, commenting that this was the sole Ghanaian species.

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0406910 Collection Information: Specimen Code CASENT0406910; 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 510 m; Collection codes: BLF04000; 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.: L.O.

Meranoplus inermis variant (previously Meranoplus species T¹)

TL 2.68 mm, HL 0.73, HW 0.68, SL 0.37, PW 0.70

Very similar to M. inermis but generally longer and slimmer in dorsal view, also with somewhat longer, finer and more abundant hairs. Colour dark brown. Posterior margin of promesonotal shelf with a single pair of moderately large teeth. Promesonotal suture more clearly marked, lateral spiracle opening incised in the shelf margin. Clypeal margin near straight.

In Nigeria, I collected it several times tending aphids on cocoa flowers. Several features seem to separate this from the other M. inermis, although the description by Bolton (1981a) has several plastic points, e.g. "Anterior half of clypeus usually shallowly concave between the carinae" and his comments on smaller specimens mainly cover the T¹ differences. The key defining feature of the species is the lack of propodeal spines. Bolton (1981a) listed one of my specimens as among the inermis findings. From his full description of inermis it is clear that this variant has all the characters which he noted for "smaller individuals". The promesonotal shield, moreover, clearly differs from any of the four variants which he illustrated.

The photomontage is of a specimen from the Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha National Park; 03°55’13.2" N 16°36’46.1" E 536m; 20.i.2005; U.V : 2h-6h, après Sefka (entre Bambio et croisement Nola/Berberati), dans layon forestier; from on a reduviid bug; collected in forest, 1st hour of the morning; collector Philippe Annoyer. Other images can be seen in the folder at -