Tetramorium brevispinosum (Stitz)

Type location Togo (Triglyphothrix gabonensis variety brevispinosus, Stitz, 1910: 144, worker); junior synonym nion (Bernard, 1952: 248, illustrated) from Guinea, two workers from Mt. Nimba, at Crête Nion, station B6.26, 1300 m, collector Lamotte; worker only described (see Bolton, 1995). The type location in Bolton (1976) was given as Togo, at Bismarckburg, collected by Conradt; with a lectotype in the Berlin Museum (which fits the title of the Stitz, 1910, paper - being on West African ants, see Bolton, 1995, and is the location given by Wheeler, 1922). Bolton (1995) also altered the name from brevispinosa, in his 1976 paper, where he had changed it from the brevispinosus of Stitz .

Stitz's (1910) description is at . Bernard's (1952) description of nion is at . Bolton's modern description (1976) is at .

WORKER (drawn specimen) - TL 3.52, HL 0.87, HW 0.78, SL 0.57, PW 0.62 (TL in Bolton, 1976, 3.0-3.6, Bolton, 1976, illustrated, full-face view, alitrunk and pedicel profile; in my guide as previously Triglyphothrix species B)
Colour red-brown, gaster darker. Head, alitrunk and pedicel sculpturation of coarse reticulation. Abundant, dense white, trifid hairs all over, giving the live ants a furry appearance to the naked eye. Head with well marked antennal scrobes, into which the antenna can be closed. In profile the alitrunk is convex, with all margins rounded. Propodeal spines flat, acutely triangular; metapleural lobes short triangles. Petiole and postpetiole with high domed nodes; there is a minute subpetiolar denticle.

Bolton (1976) described it as a widely distributed forest-inhabiting species, found in both primary forest and more open woodland. In Nigeria, I found it nesting in hard packed soil and foraging on the ground (CRIN, W3, 6.x.1975). Listed as from CRIN (B. Bolton) (Bolton, 1976). Described as widespread in Ghana (118 workers from 6 sites, as T. brevispinosum), from their leaf litter collections in the semi-deciduous forest zone, by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b). Earlier, Bolton (1976) had listed collections at Bunso (D. Leston, apparently by pkd, indicating the species may climb trees), CRIG (A.H. Strickland; himself) and Mt. Atewa (himself). Other countries listed by Bolton (1976) include Ivory Coast, at Banco Forest (W.L. Brown); and more easterly across to Kenya. Santschi (1935) had a single finding from Mayumbe, Kai Bumba, Zaïre (as Triglyphothrix gabonensis var brevispinosa).

The photomontage is of a specimen from Ghana, collected by S Sky Stephens, 2006. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0006833. Note - Bolton (1976) remarked how some specimens had the sculpturation on the face almost effaced so that the cephalic median carina forms the only distinct marking on the dorsum.