The Ants of Africa
Genus Crematogaster
Crematogaster (Atopogyne) theta Forel

Crematogaster (Atopogyne) theta Forel

return to key {link to the Hymenoptera Name Server}Type location Zaïre (Crematogaster africana Mayr var. theta n.var., Forel, 1911f: 278, worker; Crematogaster buchneri For. r. laurenti For. v. theta For., Forel, 1916: 410, queen; raised to species by Wheeler, 1922: 857) collected at Kondué by Luja

Worker and queen described (see Bolton, 1995) .


Forel (1911f), describing it as a new variety of africana, had - TL 3.4-3.7; close to Crematogaster laurenti Forel and [its ssp] zeta but larger and less shiny. Propodeal spines longer, more slender and less divergent. Otherwise less matt than typical africana and petiole node larger; head fairly shiny {original description}. Forel's (1916) description of the queen is at {original description}.


{Crematogaster theta} The photomontage of the holotype worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0904482.

This appears to be very similar in size and form to the media 2 worker of Crematogaster depressa from Benin that I show on the linked page.


Wheeler (1922) drawing on a letter from Santschi, had - "this form represents the extreme limits of the subgenus Atopogyne. The worker has a feeble groove on the postpetiole and the promesonotal impression [suture] is feeble. Moreover the female is brown [the worker was described as entirely black], smooth, and shining with spined epinotum [propodeum], very different from the female of C. africana (Mayr) and the variety zeta (Forel)." According to Mr Lang, who collected it at Medje, Avakubi and Stanleyville, the nests, as illustrated (left and "click") were typically not more than about two feet (60 cm) in height and about a foot (30 cm) in diameter.

Santschi (1935) noted specimens from Dingila and Tuku, Zaïre, collected by H.-J. Brédo, 30.vi-1923; and R.P. Van der Plas, 15.ii.1919.

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