The Ants of Africa
Genus Lepisiota
Lepisiota piliscapa (Santschi)

Petiole with no more than denticles

Clothed with long brown or yellowish fine hairs, near circular heads

Lepisiota piliscapa (Santschi)

return to key {link to the Hymenoptera Name Server} Type location Zaïre (Acantholepis piliscapa n. sp., Santschi, 1935a: 273, worker) type and one other worker collected at Kunungu, by Dr Schouteden, 2.iv.1921 - see below
subspecies
longipilosa (Acantholepis piliscapa Santschi stirps longipilosa n. st., Santschi, 1935a: 274, worker) from Zaïre, Manyema, Niemba Tengo, by Dr Gérard - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=rmcaent000017807
punctifrons (Acantholepis piliscapa Santschi v. punctifrons n. v., Santschi, 1935a: 274, worker), also from Zaïre, at Mongende, by Dr Schouteden, 21.iv.1921 - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=rmcaent000017806
workers only known .


Santschi's (1935a) description is on {original description}. My translation is:
WORKER. TL 2.7-2.8 mm; colour black; scape, femora and tibiae dark brown; mandibles and funiculi brown red; tarsi brown yellow. Head and thorax matt. Head finely and densely puncturate, reticulate with a tendency to longitudinal striation on the vertex. Pronotum and metasternum finely longitudinally striate; upper sides of meso and metasternum reticulate like the head, with areas of longitudinal rugae, largest on the sides. Propodeum reticulate, punctured dorsally and laterally, declivity transversely striate. Gaster very finely reticulate, to give dull appearance. Erect pilosity brown, quite long, basally slender, oblique and abundant on the gaster, more erect and sparser on thorax and head. Legs with long slightly raised pubescence. Scape with a short raised pilosity.
Head rounded, slightly longer than wide. Clypeus convex with diffuse median carina. Mandibles smooth with 5-6 teeth. Maxillary palps very elongated. Postclypeal notch distinct. Frontal carinae long, far apart and subparallel. Eyes occupying a good third of the face, set around the posterior third of the face; seen from the front the eyes just reach the lateral borders. Posterior to the eyes, head regularly rounded. Frontal area of face limited. Scapes slender and straight, surpassing the occiput by a little less than half their length; funiculus segment 1 twice as long as wide, 2 & 3 together as long as 1. Thorax somewhat elongated; pronotum wider than long; mesonotum convex, twice as long as metanotum; metanotal suture absent on sides. In profile, propodeum dorsum raised obliquely frontally, highly concave between the angles which are raised and divergent. Petiole scale slightly higher than posterior peduncle, twice as wide medially as at the summit, which is indented with raised teeth, as long as half the interbasal space.

Stirps punctifrons differed in having large piliferous points on the the smooth sides of the vertex, more developed than the type and set in a background of very fine striations. In the type these points are less pronounced and obscured by general striation. Pronotum more depressed, almost concave dorsally and more feebly waisted.

Stirps longipilosa had longer and finer brown pilosity over all the body and on the legs, where it was raised and yellowish; also longer pubescence on the scape. Head similarly sculptured but gaster and thorax shinier, with the latter with reduced striation. Mandibles, basal two-thirds of the scape and tarsi yellowish; median clypeus, remainder of antenna, articulations of legs and petiole scale yellow or less brown. Clypeus with more defined median carina; frontal carinae farther apart and longer. Scape longer. Dorsum of pronotum depressed. Mesonotum slightly longer. Propodeum slightly more elevated. Petiole scale a little longer than high, summit bidentate. Otherwise as type.

From the Antweb images the two stirps are almost identical to the type.


{Lepisiota piliscapa}The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0912402

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© 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 - Brian Taylor CBiol FSB FRES
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