Paratrechina grisoni (Forel)

Type location Zaïre (Prenolepis grisoni, Forel, 1916: 440, illustrated, worker) from Bengamisa, by H Kohl; subspecies fuscula (Menozzi, 1942: 178, worker) from Fernando Po I; worker only .

Forel's (1916) description is at ; and Menozzi's (1942) description of fuscula is at .

Bequaert (1922, p 407) cited it as among the ants found in myrmecophilous plants by Father Kohl, near Kisangani (Stanleyville) and recognised by Forel (1916).

Nigeria specimens (as Paratrechina species 3, Taylor, 1978: 29). WORKER. TL 2.05 mm, HL 0.57, HW 0.49, SL 0.65, PW 0.37
Overall colour chestnut-brown, shiny. No pubescence but erect hairs abundant on both head and gaster, several small hairs outside main line of four pairs of hairs on dorsal alitrunk. Propodeum hemispherical in profile. Promesonotal and metanotal sutures distinct; mesothoracic spiracle on a small prominence.
Nests in soil, including collections of soil in tree crevices.

In Nigeria, it can be relatively common on cocoa, on 0.1-1.0% of cocoa trees, but apparently unaffected by the presence of any dominant ant species (Taylor, 1977). It is an avid tender of aphids over which it constructs soil and debris tents, a small proportion of which were found to be associated with cocoa black pod disease (Taylor & Griffin, 1981). Also found foraging on the ground, and on kola and oil palm.

Also found in Ghana, on leaf litter under cocoa at the Mampong Cemetery farm, and nesting in same site, plus sampled once from cocoa canopy in the wider survey (Room, 1971). Eleven workers were collected from the ground at CRIG by Bigger (1981a).

The photomontage is of a specimen from Congo, Brazzaville, pitfall trapped by Yves Braet & Eric Zassi, 19.viii.2007; t 1.7.

Other images can be seen in the folders at - Congo - and ; plus from Congo, Réserve de Lésio-Louna, S 03°16'56.5" E 015°28'28.3"; 16-17.xi.2007; n sp 03; pitfall trap 19, t 1.1; wooded savannah; collected by Eric Zassi, in the folder at - . Gabon, Pongara National Park, collected by Yves Braet - .

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0414362
Collection Information: Specimen Code CASENT0414362: Locality Central African Republic: Prefecture Sangha-Mbaéré: Parc National Dzanga-Ndoki, 39.6 km 174° S Lidjombo; 02°21'03"N 016°08'50"E 340 m; Collection codes: BLF04146; Date: 20-28 May 2001; Collected by: B.L.Fisher; Method: EC19 sifted litter; Habitat: rainforest, seasonally flooded riparian; Transect Type: MW 50 sample transect, 5m.

See also http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0179585 from Kenya, Kakamega Forest, 00°15'00"N 034°52'00"E 1554 m; Collection codes:
ANTC10319 ; Collected by: C.F. Huggins; 18-22 Jan 1972 ; 

and http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0179591 from Locality:
Gabon: Ogooue-Maritime: Reserve de Faune de la Moukalaba-Dougoua, 12.2 km 305° NW Doussala; 02°19'00"S 010°32'00"E 110 m
Collection codes: BLF02122; Collected by: B.L.Fisher; Habitat: rainforest; Date: 24 Feb 2000  
Method: EC19 sifted litter; Transect Type: MW 50 sample transect, 5m;  Transect Sample #: 11