Odontomachus troglodytes (Santschi)
Raised to species by Brown (1976a: 106, 167). Type location Kenya
(as Odontomachus haematodes variety troglodytes,
F. Silvestri, in Santschi, 1914b: 58, worker; André, 1887:
290, male; Arnold: 1915: 109, queen); lectotype from Kenya; junior
synonym stanleyi (Wheeler, 1922: 102, worker) from Zaïre
( Bolton, 1995); all forms known. Note - Wheeler (1922) had the
type location of var. troglodytes as "Shimoni,
British East Africa", which fits with the Santschi, 1914b,
title)  .
Santschi's (1914b) description is at
 .
Arnold's (1915: 101) description of it as haematoda (?) is
at  .
Brown's (1976a: 167) separation from haematodus is at
 .
WORKER (drawn Nigeria specimens) - TL 10.0 mm, HL 2.41, HW 2.03,
SL 2.22 and PW 1.08
Overall colour very dark red-brown, shiny with sparse pubescence.
Alitrunk, especially pronotum and propodeum, with striated
sculpture. |
Widely named in earlier literature as Odontomachus haematodus
(L.), a forest ant of the lowland South American tropical forests
or O. haematodes. On the basis of morphological characters
there seems to be no easy way of differentiating the African
species from its South American cousin.
Brown (1976a) gives almost no taxonomic information. Wheeler
(1922) listed many African findings of "haematoda",
from West Africa there was Senegal (Thiès, F.
Silvestri), Guinea (Kindia, F. Silvestri), Liberia
(Junk River, H. Brauns), Ivory Coast (Assinie, C,
Alluaud), Ghana (Kitta, H. Brauns; Aburi, F. Silvestri),
Nigeria (Ibadan, Lagos, Olokemeji, F. Silvestri; Oni Camp,
W.A. Lamborn) and Cameroun (at ?, H. Brauns; Barombi,
Freyer; Bibundi, Tessman; Yaundé, Zenker; Moliwe Region,
Conradt; and, Victoria, F. Silvestri).
General life history was described by Colombel (1972), in Cameroun,
where "a secondary habitat" involved nests in the heads
of palms. Colony size was some 300-1000 workers, larger in good
forest areas (see Brown, 1976b). Colony-specific nest marking was
reported by Déjean et al. (1984).
In Nigeria it is common in open or loosely wooded areas.
Nests in rotting wood on the ground or in tree stumps or among the
roots at the base of trees (right). It can be dominant throughout
the cocoa growing area, on 1.0-2.5% of cocoa trees but only on
lower trunk (Taylor, 1977; Taylor & Adedoyin, 1978). Earlier
from CRIN, by Booker (perhaps on 1-2% of cocoa in collections from
two cocoa blocks, W13/2 and W18/1, Booker, 1968). Often found
ascending cocoa trees to tend aphids and assorted other Homoptera;
activity includes tent-building, using coarse soil and debris. The
tents (left) were frequently associated with cocoa black
pod infections (Taylor & Adedoyin, 1981).
Described as occasionally found on Ghana cocoa (as
Odontomachus haematoda), probably as "chance migrants"
from leaf litter, by Strickland (1951a). Emergence of alates was
principally in September to November at CRIG, i.e. during the
second wet season of the year (Gibbs & Leston, 1970). Evans &
Leston (1971), further elaborated by Leston (1972), described its
association with Homoptera on cocoa, including the habit of
building tents of soil and vegetable matter, both thought to be
the first reports of such behaviour in Ponerines. They regarded it
probably as of savannah origin, straying into cocoa, particularly
as it was not found in primary forest. Later found in cocoa leaf
litter and nesting in dead wood on the ground at the Mampong
Cemetery farm (Room, 1971); also from cocoa mistletoe (Room,
1975); and a single worker was collected by pyrethrum knockdown at
Kade by Majer (1975, 1976b). Described as widespread (22 workers
from 7 sites, 1991-92) in leaf litter in the semi-deciduous forest
zone by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).
In Guinea, Bernard (1952) noted that it (as Od.
haematoda) was curiously almost absent from the Mt. Nimba
massif. The only findings being from the Nimba, north-east forest
litter, 4 workers (ix.1946, Villiers). The specimens were
grey-black, with reddish thorax, and TL 9.5 mm.
Hall, Cushman et al. (1998) described how ant-tended
homopterans indirectly benefit figs (genus Ficus) across
southern Africa (Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and
Zimbabwe). Among the ants was O. troglodytes found on 0.8%
of sampled fig trees. |
The photomontage is of a specimen from Gabon, Pongara
National Park; Pointe Wingombe, 00°19'336" N 09°19’102"
E; pitfalls under forest; Gabon 51, 20.vii.2006; collector Yves
Braet. Other images can be seen in the folder at -
Photographed
specimen collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical
coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia
project) - Cameroon 48 from location EBO, 09 April 2001, in leaf
litter; others were Cameroon 63 from location TM, 10 April 2001,
on sandy banks of a forest river. Other images can be seen in the
folder at - 
The photomontage is of a cotype of Odontomachus haematodus
stanleyi from Zaïre. The original photographs,
together with enlarged images, are from the MCZ, Harvard
University, website at -