Phrynoponera bequaerti Wheeler
Type location Zaïre (Wheeler, 1922: 79, illustrated,
queen); queen only described (see Bolton, 1995)
 .
Wheeler separated the single female by its small size, lack of
teeth on the anterior clypeal border, and a long median petiolar
spine. Description (after Wheeler) -
FEMALE (dealated), TL 6 mm; resembling gabonensis and
heteroda but much smaller. Head as broad as long,
posterior border near straight, sides very feebly and evenly
convex; eyes large, moderately convex, with their posterior at the
middle of the sides. Mandibles shaped as in gabonensis,
with obliquely, bluntly 4-toothed apical borders. Clypeus short,
with broadly rounded, entire anterior border, elevated centre
somewhat concave with a ridge on each side. Antennae short and
thick, scapes scarcely passing occiput; first funiculus segment
nearly as long as broad, remaining segments, except last,
distinctly broader than long. Thorax as broad as head, shaped much
as in gabonensis but propodeal teeth proportionally
longer, being longer than broad at their bases, and as long as the
distance between their bases. Petiole with longer spines than in
gabonensis, the lateral spines being as long as the
remainder of the segment and the median tooth as long as the
lateral.
Mandibles smooth and shining, with very coarse, sparse punctures,
most numerous near the inner border. Remainder of body subopaque,
except borders of frontal carinae which are smooth and shining.
Head reticulate-rugose, rather coarsely on the sides, on the front
and vertex more finely, the rugae scarcely longitudinal. Thorax
covered with coarse umbilicate foveolae, largest on the mesonotum
but all over so close as to give a reticulate-rugose appearance .
Anterior petiole similarly sculptured but the meshes elongate.
Gaster appearing more longitudinally striate. Legs and scapes
nearly opaque and coriaceous.
Pilosity and pubescence much as in gabonensis and heteroda
but the hairs more recumbent on the head and body.
Black, mandibles, frontal carinae and legs dark brown.
In Ghana, 13 workers (?) were found by Belshaw &
Bolton (1994b) in leaf litter samples from cocoa and primary
forest at Kade. The authority for their determinations of the
apparently previously unknown worker morph was not given.
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The
photomontage is of a worker from Gabon, Pongara National Park,
Gabon 130; 8.viii.2006; Winkler Funnel, 72 h; riverine leaf litter;
collected by Yves Braet. This is a close match for the Wheeler
description of the queen. Other images can be seen in the folders at -
