Hypoponera cognata (Santschi)
  Type location Angola
(Ponera ergatandria Forel stirps cognata n. st.,
Santschi, 1912b: 153,
worker; queen; raised to species Bernard, 1952: 202, illustrated,
queen) from Benguela; worker and queen described (new combination
in Hypoponera, in Bolton, 1995)  .
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 Santschi's
(1912b) description is at  . Arnold (1915: 81) gave a translation
(under Ponera ergatandria r. cognata), this is at  . Forel's (1893g) description of ergatandria,
from the West Indies, is at  .
WORKER (after Bernard, 1952) - TL 2.5-3.0 mm; head
brown, shiny; body dark red, gaster darker, tarsi yellow. Head with
sides parallel, vertex slightly concave; eyes 3-5 facets; mandibles
with 6 spaced out teeth, 3 long then 3 short. In profile declivity of
propodeum similar length to dorsum.
I suspect that the specimens determined as Ponera
ergatandria by Santschi (1914b) from Kenya (Shimoni, Alluaud &
Jeannel) and also listed by Wheeler (1922: 781) from South Africa
(Natal, Durban by H Bell-Marley), are this species.
Wheeler
(1922) has it, as a subspecies of Ponera ergatandria (a
tropicopolitan species first described from West Indies), and lists it
from Angola (Benguela) and Zimbabwe (Bulawayo); he had Hypoponera petri
as another subspecies.
From Africa, including Guinea, noted as common
by Bernard (1952) but the specimens were somewhat more slender,
smoother and with less pubescence than the types known from
south-central Africa (Zimbabwe, Angola). He felt this did not warrant
designating the Nimba form as a separate variety. Recorded specimens
were from Mount Tô forest, B 2-41, ravine 1 (Lamotte, 1 queen, 1
worker). Found also at Banco, Ivory Coast
(Delamare-Debouteville).
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The photomontage right is adapted from the Antweb.org site
at