Type location Sierra Leone (Illiger, 1802: 188, male) from a single male specimen. .

Illiger's (1802) description is at .

Haldeman (1849a) gave illustrations of the male head and F Smith (1859) included the petiole profile in a plate comparing Dorylus males.

Raignier & van Boven (1955) cite Illiger's description as - "Schwärzliche Aemsenwespe [blackish wasp], nigricans, brunneo-holo-sericeus, abdominis petiolo acetabuliformi. Lange : Einen Zoll [ca TL 25 mm] bis einen Zoll und drei Linien [TL 28.4 mm]". The specimen was a little bigger than the already known species Dorylus (Dorylus) helvolus and without hairs; the wings of nigricans were smoky black with black veins.

Forel (1909b: 11) in his notes on emeryi noted nigricans MALE - HW 5.0, HL 6.0, gaster 5.6 mm.

Thus, the Illiger, Shuckard, Haldeman, F Smith male has -
Dark smoky black wings;
The alitrunk dorsum has a shiny brown pubescence;
A steeply domed head, with relatively small eyes and a straight margin across between the anterior of the compound eyes;
The petiole profile has a shallow curve from the anterior to the dorsum, the ventral process has a straight anterior at about 45° and the posterior is convex.

The photomontage is of a specimen from the Central African Republic; Bayanga, scierie bord fleuve Sangha; collector Philippe Annoyer (CAR DK02).

Head shape matches Haldeman - flatter occiput, strong median sulcus, shorter scapes; shorter mandibles; scape length to basal 7.1 segments of funiculus; SL = distance between inner margin of eye and centre of median ocellus (in full face view scape reaches median sulcus); eye shorter but just as wide, EW/EL = 79; ocelli set closer together; from above front of head is concave; posterior margin of petiole is near flat, with a distinct fringe of hairs; gaster apex, evenly convex, with prominent stipes extruding.

Those below match Emery (1910) - no frontal sulcus, occiput domed; from above front of head is convex; scape length to basal 6.3 segments of funiculus; SL = distance between inner margin of eye and outer edge of median ocellus (in full face view scape does not reach the faint median line); EW/EL = 71/66; posterior margin of petiole is shallowly concave; without any fringing hairs (Antweb specimen from different angle to my two; apex of gaster shallowly concave, with the stipes barely visible.

The photomontage is of a specimen from the Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha National Park; collector Philippe Annoyer (CAR Camp 2).

The photomontage is of a specimen from the Cameroun, Kupe; collector D Price (OUMNH 2007-042).