Lepisiota ambigua (Santschi)
  Type location Zaïre (Acantholepis
ambigua n. sp., Santschi, 1935a: 270, illustrated, holotype
worker), collected by L. Burgeon at Ituri, La Moto: Madyu: worker only
described  .
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Santschi's (1935a) description is on  .
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 Santschi
description - Worker TL 2.5 mm; dark red brown;
mesonotum and petiole scale more translucent; mandibles and
articulations of tarsi yellow brown; gaster black. Matt, densely and
finely reticulo-punctate; gaster smooth and shiny. Totally without
erect hairs, except the posterior of the gaster with numerous brown
hairs which are slender and almost as long as the width of the legs.
Whole body covered with very fine short pubescence.
Head a rounded rectangle, narrower anteriorly, a little
longer than wide. Clypeus with a strong but diffuse medial carina.
Mandibles smooth, when closed no more than two teeth visible under the
clypeus. Postclypeal notch slightly indicated, frontal area matt and
wider than long; frontal carinae sinuous and near parallel. Eyes
occupying the median third of the face. (Antennae missing) Thorax
narrower than the head but pronotum as wide as long and sides very
rounded; meso-metanotum one-fourth longer than wide; propodeum dorsum
wider than long, teeth reduced; declivity near perpendicular with
almost a right angle from the dorsum. Petiole scale much higher than
pedicel, armed with two fine spines, longer than the basal separation
and curved backwards.
Related to Lepisiota spinosior Forel (type
location Zimbabwe) but that has finer sculpturation, the pronotum more
impressed dorsally, dorsum of propodeum more concave, angles with more
pronounced teeth and the petiole scale with longer spines.
Santschi (1935) described it as in a small group with spinosior
and schoutedeni;
the latter being darker, near black and somewhat smaller. It also
appears to be similar to the specimens I drew and labelled as "species
Bolton collected" below.
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 The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0903166
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Oxford University Museum
specimens
Lepisiota ambigua
B Taylor det.
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Ghana
S Sky Stephens
06G0067
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2006
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In S Sky Stephens
collection
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2
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 The
photomontage is of a worker from Ghana, collected by S Sky
Stephens, 2006.
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 Nigeria
specimens (as Lepisiota species Bolton collected, Taylor, 1978:
37). WORKER. TL 1.90 mm, HL 0.47, HW 0.42, SL 0.50, PW 0.26
Colour dark red-brown, with yellow tarsi and antennal scapes. Shiny and
unsculptured. A few erect hairs and sparse pilosity. Propodeal
prominences are near round tubercules. Petiole a sharp scale with
slightly concave dorsal margin.
Collected by B. Bolton at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi
Ayunre, but no details available, other than from dead wood on the
ground.
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