 Forel
(1886c) had the following on madagascarensis new strain -
Worker distinguished from typical by - clypeus with carina, also
setiform pilosity and pubescence slightly more yellow and much
more abundant; body more matt and gaster segments strongly
bordered with a more distinct yellow. From Madagascar collected by
M Grandidier.
In a description of the new species radovae also from
Madagascar, Forel (1886c) noted the niveosetosus gaster as
having very fine and dense striations; pilosity being strong but
blunt; radovae being entirely black but rather more shiny
than niveosetosus. The dorsal pronotum in both is clearly
bordered on the anterior edges, both being similar to fulvopilosus
De Geer (from South Africa). TL for radovae is 9 mm,
larger than niveosetosus but the mandibles are smaller.
The only locations not in southern Africa in Wheeler (1922) are
from Pemba, Tanzania and Grand Comoro.
From Ghana on and under cocoa and on mistletoe at the
Mampong Cemetery Farm, plus in 52 of his 168 cocoa canopy samples,
by Room (1971, 1975). Room (1971) found it to be positively
associated with Crematogaster africana and Crematogaster
clariventris. He also found it to rank 17th in terms of
occurrence on mistletoe plants (19/175 samples) (Room, 1972a). I
strongly suspect that this was a misidentification, as the type
locations of all but one Myrmopiromis species are from
South Africa or Madagascar; the exception is from Sudan.
The photograph left is a specimen of Camponotus niveosetosus
on a Watsonia flower from Knysna, South Africa and
is reduced from the superb Myrmecos.net original taken by Alex
Wild (click to see original). |
The
photomontage is of two minor specimens from South Africa,
Western Cape, Grootvadersbosch N.R.; 350 m; S 33°59.39' E 20°48.32';
Peter Hlavác; 25-26.i.2004.