Centromyrmex bequaerti (Forel)

Type location Zaïre (Glyphophone bequaerti, Forel, 1913b: 308, wing illustrated, queen) from Kibombo, by J. Bequaert; junior synonym rufigaster (Arnold, 1916: 163, illustrated, queen; synonymy by Brown, 1963: 10) from Zimbabwe; queen only described (see Bolton, 1995) .

Forel's (1919b) description is at .

Synonymy with Centromyrmex by Brown (1963), who noted seeing the type and a virtually identical winged female from Zambia (Mbala [Abercorn], sent to him by Dr Arnold).

Bolton, B. & Fisher, B.L. 2008c. Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera Centromyrmex Mayr, Promyopias Santschi gen. rev. and Feroponera gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa, 1929, 1-37 - weblink - http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/z01929p037f.pdf [10 Nov. 2008]

Arnold's (1915) description (adapted by me) of rufigaster was -
"Queen - TL 14 mm. Head black, slightly castaneous on the clypeus; thorax black, petiole dark reddish brown, gaster castaneous red; legs, scapes and mandibles castaneous, the margins of the latter blackish, funiculus dark brownish red, the apical joint paler. Smooth and very shining. Exceedingly sparsely and finely punctured, the piligerous punctures larger than the others; the extreme anterior margin of the mesonotum finely and rather closely punctured. Pilosity very sparse, consisting of stout, suberect, yellowish hairs, fairly long on the pronotum and abdomen, shorter elsewhere. A very scanty pubescence on the legs and antennae.
Head, excluding the mandibles, as long as wide behind, wider behind than in front) posterior margin very shallowly concave, the angles rounded. Eyes large, not very convex, placed in the middle of the sides, ocelli present. An oblique and shallow groove or elongate fovea lies on the inner border of each frontal carinae, along the posterior half. First joint of funiculus as long as wide, 2nd-9th joints wider than long, 10th about as long as wide, the apical joint twice as long as wide, as long as the 9th and 10th together. Pronotum widely exposed above, convex transversely and lengthwise; mesonotum moderately convex, the parapsidal sutures feeble. Scutellum trapezoid its posterior margin convex, sloping downwards posteriorly and hardly raised above the level of the metanotum; the latter rather long, quite one-quarter the length of the scutellum. Propodeum sloping from its base downwards, merging into the declivity by a deep curve, wider than long, shorter than the declivity, the latter convex transversely and vertical. Petiole twice as wide as long, wider above than below, the dorsal surface moderately convex transversely and lengthwise; the anterior face vertical, concave dorso-ventrally and convex transversely; posterior face very steep or almost vertical; ventral lamella produced into a large triangular tooth. Base of gaster subtruncate, slanting & little forwards (as also the petiole). Abdomen elongate, cylindrical, parallel-sided, two and four-fifths longer than wide, the constriction between the 1st and 2nd segments feeble. Wings dirty yellowish, nervures dark brown, stigma black.
Other characters as for the sub-genus.
Victoria Falls. Type in my collection. I retain this species under the genus Glyphopone, since it appears to me that its points of resemblance with that genus (metatarsal and tibial spines, the polished integument, and structure of the node) are of greater value than the points of difference".

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=SAM-ENT-0011510A

Also from Kasongo, Zaïre, by Pons (Wheeler, 1922).

Now known from Cameroun, collected by the Campo Forest study (Bolton, Dejean & Ngnegueu, 1992), ten instances from active termitaria of Ophiotermes mandibularis and two from abandoned termitaria of the same species.

The photomontage is collated from - http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0005922
Collection details - Locality: Gabon: Woleu-Ntem; 31.3 km 108° ESE Minvoul; 02°04'48"N 012°24'24"E, 600m. Collection Information: Collection codes: BLF1713. Date: 14 Feb 1998. Collected by: B.L.Fisher. Method: EC13 ex rotten log. Habitat: rainforest. of undetermined species

This is the specimen given as a worker of C. bequaerti in Bolton & Fisher (2008, Fig 1-2). I am assuming the specimens were associated with a recognisable queen, as. Bolton & Fisher state only that they measured queens that were "somewhat larger than the largest workers in associated series" but they gave no precise collection data. Also from their comments this is a "smaller worker", with the petiole longer than high..

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=CASENT0102992.
In October 2007, as there was no published description of the worker of this species, I thought this might be a separate species but the specimen appears to be among those listed as examined by Bolton & Fisher (2008: 11). Apparently one of the larger workers.