SUBFAMILY MYRMICINAE - Genus Microdaceton
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The Ants of
Africa SUBFAMILY MYRMICINAE - Genus Microdaceton |
| Contents - Myrmicinae - MYRMICINAE Introduction |
In Tribe DACETINI.
Diagnostic Features - Mandibles elongate, linear, without preapical armament; apical armament of three spiniform teeth. Antennae 6-segmented; no antennal scrobes; eyes dorsolateral. Gena in front of the eye with a laterally projecting tooth; occipital lobes of head armed with teeth. Promesonotum posteriorly, propodeum and petiole bispinose or bidentate; postpetiole with lateral alar appendages.
Santschi's (1913g) genus description is at 
. Arnold (1917: 383) gave a translation of
the genus description, this is at 
.
According to Bolton (1983: 401), a genus of two known species, both small to minute soil and leaf-litter dwellers, and restricted to the Afrotropical region - "tibialis being found in West and central Africa, and exornatum being widely distributed in East and South Africa". Translating Bernard's (1952) report on the Mt. Nimba surveys in Guinea raises questions as to the usually sound analysis by Bolton. Thus, I include my translation below the species separated by Bolton.
Species separation
| 1 |  Postpetiole narrow < 0.7 of base of gaster |
2 |
| -- |  Postpetiole very broad, almost as wide as base of gaster |
3 |
| 2 |  TL
3.1 mm; postpetiole narrow < 0.7 of base of gaster; protuberances on
head small; gaster entirely smooth and shiny; colour blackish brown to
black, with contrasting yellow appendages; internal margin of mandible
with fine long hairs along whole length |
West Africa and the Congo Basin - tibialis |
| -- |  TL
< 3.0 mm; generally more heavily built; petiole in dorsal view
pear-shaped; gaster dull with very fine puncturation; head, alitrunk
and petiole coarsely sculptured and stockier |
Uganda (western montane) - viriosum |
| 3 |  With very pronounced spines on alitrunk and petiole,
propodeal spines slender; base of gaster smooth and weakly shiny; dark
brown, with contrasting white tibiae and tarsi |
Cameroun - tanyspinosum |
| -- | Spines on alitrunk and petiole relatively short; base of gaster with fine longitudinal rugulae; lighter brown to yellow brown | 4 |
| 4 |  TL
2.8 mm (excluding mandibles); segments 2-4 of funiculus equi-sized;
scapes not reaching lateral protuberances on head; these protuberances
being very distinct; occiput with deep U-shaped impression; mandibles
and clypeal margin without hairs; brown, petiole and gaster darker |
Guinea workers - "leakeyi" Bernard - bernardi new status |
| -- |  TL
2.8 mm; segment 2 of funiculs about one-fith longer than segments 3
& 4; scapes surpassing lateral protuberances on head; the
protuberances being no more than dentcles; occiput with shallower and
less sharp sided U-shaped impression; internal apical margin of
mandibles and clypeal margin with quite long fine hairs; reddish
yellow, gaster brownish medially |
Kenya southwards to South
Africa - exornatum Kenya queen - leakeyi Patrizi |
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MYRMICINAE Introduction |
© 2007, 2008, 2012 - Brian Taylor CBiol FSB FRES 11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K. |
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