Genus Aenictus Shuckard (1840b: 266) - consideration of males

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Species known only from males -

* Santschi (1920d) gave illustrated descriptions of several of these male-only species; this is at .

Male key

Stipes of genitalia essentially narrow and apically smooth sided; dorsum of petiole concave, lateral borders rounded (?)	Group A
Stipes of genitalia with apical broadening, the apex variable; often with lateral processes; dorsum of petiole flat with sharp lateral borders (?)	Group B
Stipes of genitalia with apex an arrow head; relatively large black species; dorsum of petiole strongly concave from right to left	Group C
Group A	.
Mandibles quite short and broad	Group A1
Mandibles longer and narrow throughout their length	Group A2
Group A1	.
TL 4.5 mm; fawn rust; appendages and apex of gaster yellow rust; decumbent pilosity fine, long and white; resembling that of fuscovarius but more raised and irregular on the head and members	.
	Togo - togoensis
TL 6.5 mm; head black and alitrunk brownish, antennae, pedicel and gaster piceous; mandible and legs ferruginous	.
	Uganda - bayoni
TL ca 5.5 mm; head blackish, alitrunk yellowish-brown, rest more brownish-yellow; mandibles, scapes and legs with erect hairs; variety brunnea dark brown	.
	Sahel - Senegal to Sudan - soudanicus
TL 6.2-7 mm; tawny-yellow, centre of dorsum of gaster segments darker; pubescence short and scanty	.
	eastern Congo Basin and East Africa - alluaudi
TL 6.5-7 mm; colour pale testaceous, head brown, wings with pale nerves (as magrettii); colour and pubescence as fuscovarius; petiole with copious short hairs, from above wider than long, with rounded sides, the dorsum lightly impressed	.
	Kenya & Somalia - hamifer
TL 8-8.5 mm; yellow brown with an olive tone; thoracic dorsum darker; head black; mandibles and legs red-brown; veins of wings greenish brown	.
	Sahel - Senegal to Sudan - humeralis
TL 6.5 mm; scape narrow, no wider than the widest funiculus segment; mandibles 3.5 X longer than wide; ocelli quite large, lateral pair set equidistant from median ocellus and the eyes; reddish-yellow; head with vertex black, front brown; yellow erect pubescence on mandibles, scapes and legs; pilosity fairly dense on the sides of the alitrunk and on the dorsum of the gaster	.
	Sahel - Senegal & Mali - furculatus
Group A2 - with elongated narrow mandibles
TL 6-6.5 mm: mandibles elongated and slender; funiculus elongated; pale brown, head darker; quite long erect hairs on head, scape, mandibles and apex of gaster; alitrunk and gaster covered with long pubescence; ocelli smaller than moebii and much bigger than on foreli	Ivory Coast & Benin - mutatus
TL 8.5 mm; dark brown, head pitch brown; mandibles, antennae and legs reddish-yellow; ocelli large	.
	West Africa & Congo basin - moebii
TL 5-5.5 mm; head and alitrunk black, centre of gaster segments dark brown, remainder reddish-brown, no original picture available but described as close to mutatus but with smaller ocelli; mandibles long and sub-cylindrical	Ivory Coast & Central African Republic - foreli
Group B	.
TL 6.5 mm; testaceous yellow, gaster paler; dorsum of head black behind the ocelli, red-brown in front; mesonotum with distinct longitudinal dark bands; sparse pubescence overall	.
	Mauritania - mauritanicus
TL 7.5-8.0 mm; overall reddish; dorsum of head black; wings yellow with the stigma a reddish brown; with quite dense pubescence overall; mandibles about three times as wide as long	.
	Ivory Coast & ? Ghana - asperivalvus
TL 6 mm; close to fuscovarius in form and colour	.
	Ethiopia - bottegoi
TL (sagittarius) 6-6.5 mm; overall colour honey-yellow, including stigma and nerves; dense pubescence on the body and especially the gaster; mandibles apparently short and arcuate, length about the same as the clypeus is wide; petiole with a flat dorsum and sharp lateral margins	.
Image is of magrettii which may be a separate species , TL  from profile photo > 7.0 mm	(note magrettii seems wrongly synonymized) eastern Congo Basin and East Africa - fuscovarius
General form and size [TL from profile photo ca 9 mm] as fuscovarius but head from above narrower, the postero-lateral borders more rectilinear	.
	Sudan - pharao
TL 6 mm; flavo-testaceous; antennae with short curved erect hairs	.
	West African Sahel - luteus
TL 6.5 mm; a reddish-grey colour; occiput, metanotum and apex of gaster very smooth and shiny	.
	Niger - vagans
TL 7.5-8 mm; wings less yellow than asperivalvus; generally yellow brown	.
..	Eritrea - anceps
TL 9 mm; mandibles as buttgenbachi but without a basal tooth; regularly attenuated from base to apex; scape triangular, only 1.5 X longer than apical segment of funiculus; yellow rust, with several areas of yellow brown on the alitrunk and gaster; wings subhyaline, nerves and patch dark brown; no picture available	Zaïre - raptor
TL 9 mm; forewing 9 mm long; no original drawing available. Described as close to bottegoi but clearly much bigger; from photos clearly similar to raptor but HW 1.2X bigger; mandible with a basal tooth; yellow rust; shiny but strongly puncturate; legs, mandibles, scapes and underside of body with yellow erect pilosity; otherwise only quite abundant yellow pubescence	eastern Congo Basin and East Africa - buttgenbachi
Group C - quite large primarily black species	.
TL 8 mm; head and alitrunk black; mandibles, antennae, legs and gaster brownish-yellow with the apex of the gaster olive tinted; overall with dense pubescence, concealing the sculpturation; mandibles elongated, 4 X the basal width; wings hyaline with the nerves brown and the patch brownish-black	.
	East Africa - crucifer
TL ca 7 mm; overall cinereus-black; Arnold thought this might be the same as A. crucifer (astuberculatus)	South Africa - inconspicuus