Monomorium pharaonis (L.)

Type location Egypt (Formica pharaonis, Linnaeus, 1758: 580, worker; Mayr, 1865: 90, male; André, 1883a: 338, queen; Forel, 1891b: 164, all forms); junior synonyms antiguensis (Fabricius, 1793: 357, worker) from West Indies, contigua (F Smith, 1858b: 125, queen) from Sri Lanka, domestica (Shuckard, 1838: 627, worker & queen; F Smith, 1851: 119, male) from Great Britain, fragilis (F Smith, 1858b: 124, worker) and vastator (F Smith, 1857a: 71, worker) from Singapore, and minuta (Atta minuta, Jerdon, 1851: 105, worker & queen) from India (see Bolton, 1995) .

Linnaeus' (1758) description is at . Mayr's (1865) description of the male is at . Jerdon's (1851) description of minuta is at Arnold (1916: 228) gave a fuller description, based apparently on the F Smith descriptions (1851 & 1855), this is at Bolton's modern description (1987) is at .

WORKER - illustrated specimen (from Nigeria, in my Guide as Monomorium prossae/?pharonis): TL 2.52 mm, HL 0.57, HW 0.44, SL 0.49, PW 0.28
Others TL 2.2-2.4 mm (Bolton, 1987: 356, illustrated, full-face view, body profile).
Colour yellow-orange, apex of gaster dark. Head, alitrunk and pedicel finely and densely reticulopunctate. Erect hairs relatively long and moderately abundant on the head and gaster. Antennae 12-segmented. Sides of head convex in front view with a smooth curve to a slightly convex occipital margin.

Bernard (1952) described it as cited from all of West Africa, even in forest. In Guinea it was abundant at Camp IV (forest, 1000m) of Mt. Nimba; and in the leaf litter sampling of the north-east forest area of the massif (Villiers). Apparently, Lamotte found it near villages and in savanna, and as the related members of the group Pharaophanes were essentially African, there were grounds for believing the ubiquitous pharaonis has its origins in the West African forests, not from Egypt or the Indies as other authors had suggested. (note Bolton, 1987, discarded the name Pharaophanes as nomen nudum).

In Nigeria it was collected in buildings and "sweeping grass" at CRIN (B. Bolton).

In Ghana it was found on cocoa mistletoe by Room (1975). Bolton (1987) gave findings from Kibi (D. Leston), Mole Game Reserve (J.C. Grieg), CRIG (A.H. Strickland) and Aburi (P.M. Room). It was described as widespread by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b), who found 17 workers from leaf litter samples at six locations in the semi-deciduous forest zone. Interestingly, Strickland (1948) described it as tending the mealybug, Planococcoides njalensis, but only in the laboratory.

A very successful tramp species with a world-wide distribution, including in heated buildings in temperate countries (Bolton & Collingwood, 1975). Bradshaw & Howse (1984) described it as a mass-recruiting species, using glandular secretions to repel larger ant species.

The photomontage is of specimens collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 96 from location Kribi, 10 April 2001, from bread and black chocolate bait on soil; also from Cameroon 95, a single specimen among Solenopis geminata specimens, at Kribi, in herbaceous vegetation about 20 cm tall (garden of the catholic mission). Other images can be seen in the folder at - .

The photomontage is of a specimen from Ghana, collected by S Sky Stephens, 2006. Other images can be seen in the folders at - and . Images of specimens from the Central African Republic can be seen in the folders at - and .