Pachycondyla (Trachymesopus) brunoi Forel

Type location Zimbabwe (Pachycondyla (Ectomyrmex) brunoi, Forel, 1913j: 205, worker; Arnold, 1915: 54, male; Arnold, 1926: 201, queen) collected at Bulawayo; junior synonyms bayoni (Euponera (Trachymesopus) bayoni n.sp., Menozzi, 1933a: 97, worker) from Uganda, Kome, Sesse Archipelago; dentis (Euponera (Mesoponera) dentis, sp. nov., Weber, 1942a: 43, illustrated mandible, queen) from Sudan, (Lotti Forest, Imatong Mts.; katangana (Ectomyrmex (Trachymesopus) nigeriensis, Sants. v. katangana n.var., Santschi, 1933b: 96, worker) from Zaïre, collected at Pweto, Lumbumbashi [Elizabethville]; lamottei (Euponera (Trachymesopus) lamottei, Bernard, 1952: 195, illustrated, queen) from Guinea, Mt. Nimba; and nigeriensis (Euponera (Trachymesopus) nigeriensis, in Santschi, 1914d: 316, worker, in Wheeler, 1922; Ectomyrmex nigeriensis Sants., Santschi, 1933b: 96) from Nigeria, collected at Olokemeji by F. Silvestri, xii.1912; all forms known (see Bolton, 1995). Synonymy by Brown (1963) .

Forel's (1913j) description is at . Santschi's (1914d) description of nigeriensis is at . Arnold's (1915: 54) translation and description of the male is at ; his (1926) description of the queen is at . Menozzi's (1933a) description of bayoni is at . Santschi's (1933b) further note on nigeriensis and description of katangana is at . Weber's (1942a) description of dentis is at ; the photomontage of the holotype is from the MCZ website.

Brown (1963: 8) after listing his synonymies, simply noted -
"This species occurs widely in Africa south of the Sahara. In addition to the types mentioned above, I have seen samples from Liberia, Cameroons and the Kalahari Desert. There is some small variation among these samples in relative head width and in strength and opacity of the sculpture, but this appears to be both size-linked(allometric) and continuous."
Brown makes no mention of the clear separation between nigeriensis with eyes of 18-20 facets and brunoi with 4 or 6 "ill-defined facets" (Arenold, 1915)

Nigeria specimens (as Trachymesopus brunoi, Taylor, 1976: 31)-
TL 4.75 mm, HL 0.96, HW 0.93, SL 0.68, PW 0.68 . Colour black, red-brown extremities and appendages. Sculpture of fine dense puncturation, relatively dense pilosity all over. Mandibles with a basal fovea on dorsolateral surface. Clypeus carinate medially. Eyes small. Metanotal groove very weakly impressed. Dorsum of propodeum narrower than that of pronotum.

Wheeler (1922) listed nigeriensis from Ghana (Aburi, F. Silvestri).

From Guinea, Bernard (1952) recorded a single dealated queen (as Euponera (Trachymesopus) lamottei), collected from Kéoulenta savanna (27-iii-1942, Lamotte), remarking that the nearest relative he had seen was Euponera sharpi Forel, known by workers only from Singapore.

Brown (1963) reported that, in addition to the types, he had seen specimens from Cameroun, Liberia and the Kalahari Desert and that there was some small variation in relative head width and in strength and opacity of the sculpture, but that appeared to be both size-linked (allometric) and continuous.

In Nigeria collected in soil and from a dead log (B. Bolton), often found with termites (Bolton, 1973a).

Described as widespread in the Ghana semi-deciduous forest zone, from leaf litter sampling, 24 workers, and soil, 9 workers, by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).

The photomontage is of a specimen from Gabon, Gabon 177; 9.vi-20.vi.2006; Pongara Camp Base; Winkler Funnel, leaf litter; collected by Yves Braet, 2006. Other images can be seen in the folders at -