Paedalgus distinctus Bolton & Belshaw
Type location Ghana (Bolton & Belshaw, 1993: 185,
illustrated, profile and full-face view, worker & male)
collected at CRIG, in secondary forest leaf litter (R. Belshaw,
23.xii.1991), holotype plus 11 workers (Bolton & Belshaw,
1993); worker and male only known (Bolton, 1995)
 .
Bolton & Belshaw's description (1993) is at
WORKER (Nigeria specimen)- TL 1.24 mm, HL 0.40, HW 0.34, SL
0.20, PW 0.26 (previously in my guide as Paedalgus
termitolestes)
Holotype series TL 1.4, HL 0.40, HW 0.34, SL 0.22, PW 0.26.
Colour yellow-brown. Head and alitrunk densely reticulopunctate;
pedicel and gaster shiny. Erect hairs sparse and relatively long
on the alitrunk; pilosity sparse but all over, most obvious on the
gaster. Petiole node near rectangular in profile.
The type collection was among the findings which led to it being
described as widespread in leaf litter (250 workers from 13
sites), including in association with termites (Belshaw &
Bolton, 1994b). Much earlier it was found at CRIG, from where
Strickland (1951a) noted it being found nine times on cocoa,
usually on the trunk close to the ground and once in association
with mealybugs, collecting honeydew (finding by H.M. Amoah?, in
Bolton & Belshaw, 1993). Later found in cocoa leaf litter and
nesting in dead wood at the Mampong Cemetery farm (Room, 1971).
Others listed by Bolton & Belshaw (1993) were at CRIG, tending
Stictococcus on cocoa pod stems (C. Campbell); and,
Kibi and Bunso (D. Leston).
|
 In
Nigeria, workers and males collected with termites in a
log at CRIN (B. Bolton) (as Paedalgus termitolestes,
Bolton, 1969). Also known from IITA, Ibadan (B. Critchley) (Bolton
& Belshaw, 1993).
Other locations in Ivory Coast - Tai Forest (J. Piart;
V. Mahnert & J.-L. Perret), Sassandra (I. Löbl),
Adiopodoumé, Dropleu and Gregbeau (V. Mahnert & J.-L.
Perret), near Abidjan and Nzi Noua (W.L. Brown). |
The photomontage is collated from