Cerapachys foreli (Santschi)

Type locality Ghana (Phyracaces Foreli n.sp., Santschi, 1914d: 309, worker, ; Santschi, 1915c: 245, queen; combination in Cerapachys and synonymy, Brown, 1975: 22) collected at Aburi, by F. Silvestri, 1913; junior synonyms langi (Phyracaces langi, Wheeler, 1922: 54, illustrated, worker & queen) from Zaïre; and, santschii (Phyracaces santschii, Wheeler, 1922: 56, queen) from Gabon; (see Bolton, 1995). Note I have revived Cerapachys occipitalis (Bernard) from Brown's synonymy .

Santschi's (1914d) description is at and his (1915c) description of the female, from Gabon, Samkita, by F. Faure, with small diagrams of female and worker petiole dorsum) is at .

Nigeria specimens (as Phyracaces langi, Taylor, 1976: 35). WORKER. TL 3.73 mm, HL 0.78, HW 0.68, SL 0.39, PW 0.50
Colour black, shiny. Extremities red-brown, orange tarsi. Abundant coarse hairs all over. Smooth areas on front of head, scattered small foveolae on remainder. Antenna 12-segmented with apical three segments forming a club. Sculpturation of longitudinal striations on alitrunk, less marked on lateral surfaces. Dorsum of petiole and first gastral tergite with large foveolae, remainder of gaster with small foveolae. Node of petiole distinctly marginate laterally, armed posterodorsally with a pair of large teeth.
I collected it from leaf litter, at the Cocoa research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre, Block E5/1; and on a cocoa pod growing at ground level. Nest in soil and dead wood on the ground.

From Ghana, probably this species was reported from cocoa leaf litter by Room (1971). Collected by pkd at Kade by Majer (1975); and described as widespread by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b), 55 workers from leaf litter samples at eleven sites in the semi-deciduous forest zone.

The Zaïre finding was a single collection of 7 workers and 8 females taken nesting in "mushroom-shaped termitarium against a tree in the forest" (by Lang & Chapin, in Wheeler, 1922).

Brown (1975: 61) noted that Raignier and van Boven had taken it nesting in hollow twigs in Zaïre (Epulu and Reserve Floristique de Yangambi, 29 March 1949); also listing silvestrii findings by Ross & Leech, at 26 Km S of Uvira, at 800 m, 10 January 1958. He had found members climbing a tree trunk in sparse single file in a copse in the tall grass Dabou Savanna (47 km west of Abidjan), Ivory Coast - three ants (18 January 1963). He also listed findings from Ghana at Tafo by B Bolton, 26 November 1970. He added that the West African specimens all averaged considerably smaller that those from Congo and the posterolateral teeth on the petiole were generally more developed in the former.

The photomontage is of a cotype Cerapachys foreli (as Phyraces langi) from Zaïre. It is collated from the original photographs, which, together with enlarged images, are from the MCZ, Harvard University, website at - MCZ link.

The photomontage is of a queen from Gabon, PongaraNational Park; Gabon 183; 17-22.v.2006; Winkler funnel; leaf litter; collected by Yves Braet. Other images can be seen in the folder at -