Polyrhachis curta André

Type location Sierra Leone (André, 1890: 312, worker; Bolton, 1973b: 347, queen), collector Mocquerys; junior synonyms lyrifera (Stitz, 1933: 73, illustrated, worker) from Cameroun, at Bakossigeb, H. Schulz, 16.ii.1920; and maynei (Forel, 1911f: 282, worker) from Zaïre, collected at Congo da Lemba, by H. Mayné (see Bolton, 1995) .

Andre's (1890) description is at . Forel's (1911f) description of maynei is at . Stitz's (1933) description of lyrifera is at . Bolton's modern description (1973b) is at

WORKER - TL 7.4-7.6 mm; a very distinctive species, with unique petiole structure. Few erect hairs but pubescence everywhere short and yellowish grey in colour (Bolton, 1973b, illustrated, alitrunk profile, anterior petiole).

Having read Forel's (1911f) description of maynei, it seems Bolton's synonymy was correct. The latter, however, did not remark on Forel's point that André had declared the petiole scale had a flat posterior face and had neither noted the anterior concavity of the gaster nor its singular form (very elevated - as high as total length, very short and vertically truncated anteriorly). Forel admitted that he had not seen curta but felt André could not have missed the characteristics. Forel also gave TL as 6.2; smaller than the specimens Bolton described from Ghana.

Only 6-7 other collections, in each case of only a single worker or female. Collected in Ghana at Bunso (C.A. Collingwood) and Yakasi (D. Leston), both pkd collections from forested regions (Bolton, 1973b).

The photomontage is collated from http://mcz-28168.oeb.harvard.edu/mcz/FMPro?-DB=Image.fm&-Lay=web&-Format=images.htm&Species_ID=32212&-Find, but is a specimen labelled by Bolton as the holotype of "Polyrhachis bicarinata". It is not clear from the MCZ photographs (there is no dorsal view) whether there are any pronotal teeth or any margination on the pronotum, nor it is really clear whether or not there are lateral teeth on the petiole. No such species is listed in Bolton (1973b) nor in Bolton's catalogue (1995), so the specimen is an enigma. The nearest species from the key in Bolton (1973b) is curta, although there are differences - e.g. the eyes break the outline of the head in full face view and the yellow appendages. In André's original description (1890) the colour is given as entirely black, the legs and antennae brown-black, tibia slightly reddish .