The Ants of Africa
Genus Cataulacus
Cataulacus taylori Bolton

Cataulacus taylori Bolton

return to key {link to the Hymenoptera Name Server}Type location Nigeria (Bolton, 1982: 364, not illustrated, worker) .

Bolton's description is at {original description}.


{Cataulacus taylori} First description (as Cataulacus difficilis, Taylor, 1979: 9). WORKER. TL 3.33 mm, HL 0.86, HW 0.78, SL 0.44, PW 0.64 (in my guide )
Occipital corners of head each with a pair of small, acute triangular teeth. The dorsum of the head is reticulate-rugose with the rugae longitudinal anteriorly. The dorsum of the alitrunk is longitudinally rugose, and the first gastral tergite is reticulate-punctate. All dorsal surfaces have stout, blunt erect hairs. The sides of the pronotum are marginate and strongly denticulate, but the remainder of the alitrunk is more weakly and sparsely denticulate. The propodeal spines are short and acute. There is a strongly developed mesokatepisternal tooth (on the lower part of the lateral alitrunk overhanging the front tibia), which is triangular, acute and visible when the alitrunk is viewed from above. The subpetiolar process is simple and the subpostpetiolar process long and digitiform.

Bolton separated the holotype and a paratype found at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre, but from different locations on the plantation. I took the first worker from the Onipe 1/1 block, the first Nigerian record of what I identified (from Bolton, 1974a) as Cataulacus difficilis. The latter was separated by Bolton on the basis of a single specimen, taking the mesokatepisternal tooth as definitive. The collection details given by Bolton, however, do not match my own field note book, especially as I had stopped collecting before 24.v.1976 and appear not to have been in the field on 25.vii.1975.


Cataulacus tayloriThe photomontage of the holotype is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0900263


Oxford University Museum specimens

Cataulacus taylori
B Taylor det.

Cameroun
A Fotso Kuate
Cataulacus sp4

20.ix.2007
Matomb
03°54'30" N
11°25'58" E
Tuna bait in fallow

1
{album}

{Cataulacus taylori}The photomontage is of a worker from Cameroun, Matomb; collector A Fotso Kuate (Cataulacus sp4).


Cataulacus tayloriThe photomontage of a worker from Cameroun, on Antweb as "difficilis" (but not listed in Bolton, 1982, where the distribution in the key still has solely "Benin Republic"), is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0280807

It is a match for the taylori workers shown above.

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© 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015 - Brian Taylor CBiol FSB FRES
11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

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