Pheidole nkomoana (Forel) - new status

Soldier - Minor - Type location Zaïre (Pheidole megacephala r nkomoana n. st., Forel, 1916: 415, all forms) from St Gabriel, collector H Kohl. .

Forel's (1916) description of nkomoana, which he felt might be a distinct species [and seems likely], is at . Forel noted Kohl had made several collections, always from in myrmecophile plants.

The photomontage is of specimens collected in Cameroun, at Banyong Mbo, by Hauke Koch, 11.iii.2006, from debris in Campylospermum axil. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

The photomontage is of a minor from Cameroun, at Banyong Mbo, by Hauke Koch, 11.iii.2006, from debris in Campylospermum axil

The photomontage is of a minor from Gabon, collected by Yves Braet, 2006. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

Pheidole species Cameroon 121

The specimens in the photomontage were collected in Cameroun - Kouedjina, extreme south-east (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 121, 15 February 2000. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

Minor, two specimens. Overall slender and elongated; very dark red-brown; funiculi, forecoxa, base of all femora and tarsi yellow. Elongated but ovoid head with frontal carinae distinctively raised and extending forwards in points (similar to those in Pheidole nimba). Clypeus smooth and paler. Head with faint lateral rugae rest shiny but surface uneven with indistinct sculpturation. Eyes moderate but convex and set forwards of the midline of the face. Scapes long and slender; funiculus with segment 9 unusually longer than 10 and almost as long as apical segment 11. Dorsum and lateral pronotum shiny and near unsculptured but uneven (as head); mesonotum, propodeum and pedicel with dense spiculation. Propodeal spines short and triangular with sharp forward angled tips. Petiole with a rectangular apex in frontal view. Gaster completely smooth and shiny. Legs long with very slender tarsi. Abundant long, fine, erect hairs on head, scapes, pedicel and gaster giving a bristly appearance.