Myrmicaria nitida Stitz - revived status

Type location Cameroun (Myrmicaria nitida n.sp., Stitz, 1910: 133, worker, synonymy Forel, 1910e: 421) from Cameroun, Duala (Schäfer).

Stitz's (1910) description is at .

The photomontage of the a worker from the type collection is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=focol1580.

The photomontage of the a second, slightly larger, worker from the type collection is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=focol1581.

Oxford University Museum specimens

Myrmicaria nitida B Taylor det.

Cameroun G Debout & A Dalecky Cameroon 107

24.iv.2001 Bella 3°14.45' N 10°13.33' E

on soil and surface in the village minor workers

2

The photomontage is of workers collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia project, Cameroon 107).

Probably the species collected at Nko'emvon in Cameroun (D.A. Jackson, identified by B. Bolton) (Jackson, 1984). The second most common ground ant in one of the three cocoa plots studied by Jackson. Collected by pitfall trapping and hand searches, with some 300-700 individuals collected at each of four collection dates. The level of insolation appeared to make a difference, with its numbers being higher in insolated traps. Its main competitor was Pheidole species 2 but the Myrmicaria were better able to handle larger solid food sources.

Referred to as a predator of Camponotus acvapimensis by Lévieux (1983a, as Myrmicaria nitida).

Wheeler noted that in Zaïre, the typical nests observed by Lang were "as a rule built at the bases of trees and bushes, can be easily recognized by the mound of earth thrown up while the chambers are being excavated" (illustrated left and "click").