Tetraponera ledouxi Terron

Type location Cameroun (Terron, 1969: 269, illustrated, all forms); all forms described (see Bolton, 1995) .

Terron's (1969) description is at , and .

In brief - Terron, who dedicated the species to Professor Ledoux, reported it as coming from the Yaoundé Region (without any specific details, indeed he appears not to have designated a holotype), and described it as a temporary parasite of Tetraponera anthracina Santschi, the most common Promyrmicine in the region. He gave full descriptions of all the castes but I am restricting this to the worker -
WORKER - TL 7.1-7.68-7.9 mm (21 individuals); SL 0.81
Colour black, with extremities brown; cuticle smooth and not finely puncturate as in anthracina; whitish pubescence on all the body; on the head and thorax less dense but longer than on anthracina. Erect hairs, one at at the extremity of each frontal carina and 3-5 behind; one on the base, one on the middle and one at the end of the scape; one on the first funiculus segment; on anterior border of clypeus, incurved; small hairs on the internal surface of the mandible; two on each side of the pronotum; two dorsal on the petiole; numerous on the gaster. Head 1.05-1.20 times as long as wide; widest at the level of the eyes, vertex and gulae a little more rounded than anthracina; posterior angles rounded, occipital border straight or subconvex; clypeus very short, rectilinear, slightly emarginate in the median area (crenellated in anthracina). Mandibles shorter and more slender than in anthracina. Eyes large, almost half the length of the head, set in mostly in the posterior half of the head; two small ocelli, set a little behind the level of the posterior of the eyes. Antennae short, inserted very close to the clypeus; first and last segments of funiculus longer than wider, no club.
Thorax similar in length and height to anthracina but slightly narrower and higher. Propodeum bordered laterally by a carina that is less pronounced than in anthracina, rounded towards the posterior, declivity as in anthracina.
Petiole longer and higher than anthracina, postpetiole convex dorsally and ventrally without carinae.

Possibly the same as Tetraponera triangularis type or perhaps ssp illota.

The photomontage is of a specimen from the Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha NP; Camp 2; 02°49’07.9"" N 16°09’28.3"" E, 377m; 31.01.2005, prélèvements à 35-40m du sol dans un Azobé (Lophira alata, Ochnaceae), 11h-17h; collector Philippe Annoyer . Other images can be seen in the folder at -