Pyramica (Smithistruma) ninda (Bolton)
Type location Cameroun (Bolton, 1983: 284, illustrated,
full-face view, worker), collected at Nko'emvon by D.A. Jackson,
28.1x.1980; holotype and 6 paratype workers; two further collections
at same site  .
Bolton's description (1983) is at
 .
WORKER (drawn specimen from CRIN, Nigeria) - TL 1.63 mm, HL 0.48, HW
0.37, SL 0.20, PW 0.22 (in my guide as Miccostruma species T¹)
Colour dark yellow-brown, extremities orange, shiny except for the
head. Eyes moderate below the scrobes. Very sparse pilosity just
visible on the head and gaster under high magnification. Erect hairs,
all spatulate, are restricted to the antennal scapes, the gastral
apex, a pair at the anterior end of the first gastral tergite and a
pair on the post petiole.
TL 1.7-1.8; 4-segmented antennae; separable as in the key; colour
dark brown; apparently lighter in specimens from more western
locations.
In Nigeria, at CRIN, I collected a single specimen on cocoa
flowers at 120 cm above ground, together with Tapinoma species
undet. (previously Technomyrmex detorquens) possibly tending
aphids. This was listed by Bolton (1983), together with findings from
IITA (B.R. Critchley; A. Russell-Smith).
Ghana records include CRIG (D. Leston) and Mampong (P.M.
Room). Latter listed as Miccostruma mandibularis, from soil
under Euphorbia at Mampong Cemetery farm (Room, 1971).
Recently, collected from leaf litter (55 workers) under cocoa at
Ofinso, Effiduase and Bunso, secondary forest at Nkwanda, and primary
forest at Bunso in the semi-deciduous forest zone, by Belshaw &
Bolton (1994b).
Also known from Ivory Coast, at Gregbeu and Mongaga (V.
Mahnert & J.-L. Perret); and from Chad at Umg. Maundou (H. Franz).
|
The
photomontage of the holotype is collated from