Plectroctena hastifera (Santschi) (new spelling in
Bolton, 1995)
Type location Ghana (Cacopone hastifer, Santschi,
1914d: 325, illustrated, worker) collected at Aburi by F.
Silvestri; worker only described; listed as hastifer by
Bolton (1974b) .
Santschi's (1914d) description is at
.
Bolton's modern description (1974b) is at
WORKER - Medium sized, TL 10.9; mandibles without a basal tooth,
their apices swollen. Dorsal surfaces of head alitrunk, petiole
and first two gastral segments with numerous erect hairs. Anterior
and dorsal surfaces of petiole confluent, meeting through a smooth
curve, not separated by an angle. Dorsum of head coarsely
punctate, the diameter of the punctures greater than the distance
separating them. First gastral tergite without an anterior
transverse groove. Propodeal laminae meeting dorsally, continuous
around the declivity. Colour deep red (Bolton, 1974b: 320,
illustrated, mandible and petiole).
A subterranean species, with very small eyes, known solely from
two specimens from Ghana, the holotype and a single worker
at CRIG (D. Leston) (Bolton, 1974b). Belshaw & Bolton (1994b)
referred to it but did not find any in leaf litter samples.
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