Bondroitia lujae (Forel)

Type location Zaïre (Diplomorium lujae, Forel, 1909b: 72, all forms; collected by an expedition including Mr. Luja); junior synonym coecum (Monomorium (Martia) coecum, Forel, 1911c: 299, worker; location wrongly given as Switzerland, see Bolton, 1987: 277, illustrated - full face and alitrunk profile); all forms known (Bolton, 1995) .

Forel's (1909b) description is at and, queen and male, . Forel's (1911c) description of coecum is at (Bolton concluded the description as a species from Switzerland came about as a mix up in the laboratory).

My translation of the worker is -
TL 2.1-2.5 mm; mandibles smooth, shiny, sparsely puncturate; straight but with terminal border highly oblique, with 4 teeth, sometimes 5. Clypeus as with (Diplomorium) longipenne - convex without teeth or carinae. Head square, as wide as long, and as wide anteriorly as posteriorly; widely and feebly impressed dorsally; sides feebly convex. Frontal carinae short. No post-clypeal notch. No eyes. Scapes reaching the posterior fifth of the head and slightly expanded in apical half. Antennae 11-segmented (note some workers have 10-segments only); distinct 3-segmented club, the last segment as long as the previous two together; the club as long as the rest of the funiculus, segments 2-7 being narrower than long. Promesonotum without a suture; a little flattened dorsally but with rounded anterior angles. Metanotal groove narrow, shallow, but distinct. Propodeum dorsum narrow, a little longer than the declivity, longer than wide and widest posteriorly; no propodeal teeth and declivity obtusely subordered; viewed from above, the pedicel nodes are rounded, of similar size and a little wider than long; the petiole slightly concave in front, higher than the postpetiole, as long as the pedicel which is slender. Gaster oval. Legs short, anterior tarsi slender and short.
Smooth and shiny. Puncturation moderate sized piligerous and abundant on the head and thorax. Erect hairs very sparse, yellow. Pubescence more abundant, short, yellowish, a little raised; scapes and tibiae with short, oblique pubescence.
Dull yellow; gaster, pedicel and legs pale yellow.
Forel also described the female, TL 13 mm; and male, TL 6.7-7.7 mm.

Interestingly, Forel wrote nothing about the crossed over mandibles, large fore coxae or large propodeal spiracle; all of which Bolton stressed in his comparative reasons for separating Bondoitia as a separate genus from Diplomorium. I guess this was because the general body form of members of the two genera members is similar - see Diplomorium longipenne.

Wheeler (1922) had it as B. lujae from Sankuru, Zaïre, collected by Luja. It is pictured in Hölldobler & Wilson (1990, page 100). A detailed description also was given by Ettershank (1966, illustrated), as Diplomorium lujae. Bolton's modern description (1987) is at .

The photomontage of the holotype is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0101201. A further example can be seen at http://mcz-28168.oeb.harvard.edu/mcz/FMPro?-DB=Image.fm&-Lay=web&-Format=images.htm&Species_ID=20906&-Find.