Strumigenys korahyla Bolton

Type location Cameroun (Bolton, 1983: 376, illustrated, worker), near Yaoundé (G. Terron) holotype worker and 2 paratype workers (from two series) .

Bolton's modern description (1983) is at .

WORKER - TL 2.2-2.3 mm, HL 0.61-0.64, HW 0.41-0.43, CI 67, MI 49-50, SL 0.35-0.36, SI 84-85; small eyes, elongate mandibles and slender scapes; colour brownish-yellow (Bolton, 1983, illustrated, full-face view).

A single worker was found in Ghana, from a leaf litter sample under primary forest at Mankrang Forest Reserve in the semi-deciduous forest zone by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).

The photomontage is of a single specimen from the Gabon, Pongara National Park; Camp Base; Gabon 174; 9.vi-20.vi.2006; Winkler Funnel extraction of leaf litter; collector Yves Braet. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

The following description shows this differs in a number of ways from korahyla as described by Bolton; notably in the smaller size, higher CI and SI, and, the less dramatically swollen base of the scape. In other aspects, e.g. the short well-defined basal costulae on the gaster and the general sculpturation this is a close match. Without sighting the type and being able to better examine them, I prefer to report the Gabon specimens here.

WORKER - TL ca 1.50 mm; HL 0.47, HW 0.35, CI 74, ML 0.20, MI 48, SL 0.26, SI 88, PW 0.22, AL 0.41; small eyes, elongate mandibles and slender scapes; colour brownish-yellow. Mandibles slender and slightly bowed, with the width similar for most of the length. Both mandibles with two preapical teeth the distal pair being minute and the proximal teeth set just past the mid-point of the mandible. Upper scrobe margins with no discernible rim or flange. Eyes very small, perhaps no more than 4 facets but about the same width as the slender scapes. The scapes appear to have a narrow base broadening almost immediately to a uniform width and have small apically curved spoon shaped hairs on the outer margin. The scrobe margins have spoon shaped anteriorly curved hairs but the main front of the face has semi-decumbent scale-like hairs. These become more erect on the vertex and almost obscure the reticulate-punctate ground sculpture. The dorsal alitrunk has few erect hairs, the most obvious being at the pro-mesonotal junction. In profile, the alitrunk is near flat, sloping downwards and backwards from the weakly convex anterior pronotum. The metanotal junction is scarcely visible with the propodeum dorsum forming a contiguous profile with the rest of the alitrunk dorsum. Most of the alitrunk has dense but shallow reticulate-puncturation, with a distinct median longitudinal line on the pronotum. The propodeum has sharp triangular teeth and no obvious lamella on the declivity. Both the petiole and postpetiole have low domed profiles. From above the petiole node is near circular. The postpetiole node is unusual in having near parallel anterior and posterior margins with the outer apices semi-circular. The petiole is faintly sculptured and the postpetiole is smooth. The spongiform processes are moderately developed on the postpetiole only; there the posterior fringe is complete and relatively wide, the ventral lobe on the postpetiole is about the same size as the exposed upper area of the node. Both pedicel lobes and the dorsal gaster have moderately long clavate erect hairs, those being quite abundant on the gaster. the basigastral costulae are short but distinct and evenly spaced across the entire tergite. Colour yellow-brown, with the gaster shiny and translucent.