Contents Contents The Ants of Egypt
SUBFAMILY PSEUDOMYRMECINAE - Genus Tetraponera F Smith
Tetraponera maculifrons (Santschi)

Tetraponera maculifrons (Santschi)

return to key Type location Djibouti (Sima foveolata Mayr stirps maculifrons n. sp., Santschi, 1912b: 162, worker; in Tetraponera, Wheeler, 1922: 797) collected at Obock - see below
varieties
syriaca (Sima bifoveolata var. syriaca,Wheeler & Mann, 1916, 167, worker) from Egypt, collected in Sinai, by W M Mann - see below (not from Antweb)
umbrata (Sima (Tetraponera) bifoveolata stirps maculifrons Sants. v. umbrata n. var., Santschi, 1929c: 98, worker) from Algeria, Tifedest, 1928 - see below
worker only described (see Bolton, 1995) .


Santschi's (1912b) description is at {original description}. Santschi's (1929c) description of umbrata is at {original description}. Wheeler & Mann's (1916) description of syriaca is at {original description}.

Mayr (1895) also noted its collection at Zanzibar, Tanzania. Menozzi (1926a) reported the queen from Somalia, at El Bar El Ellan.
The Wheeler & Mann specimens in the MCZ photograph, assuming the scale is correct, has a TL of over 6 mm; whereas Mayr (1895) gave the type bifoveolata TL as 3.8-4.2 mm; Mayr also noted abundant pubescence on the type bifoveolata and none is obvious on the MCZ syriaca specimen.


Tetraponera maculifronsThe photomontage of the type worker is collated from https://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915525

The type of Santschi (1929c) who also listed it as from Mali, Koulouba.
It and others are listed by Santschi (Santschi, 1934f). He commented on it solely as a variation from the type Tetraponera bifoveolata. Comparing this worker and the remains of the bifoveolata type there is no obvious difference in morphology. From the evidence of the Tanzania specimens I have, both are the minor morph of the workers. What is constant, however, between the two species is that the bifoveolata specimens all have quite a dense covering of pubescence and more obviously abundant erect hairs.


Tetraponera maculifronsThe photomontage of the umbrata type worker from Algeria (Hoggar/Haggar/Ahaggar Mountains) is collated from https://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915526

<

Tetraponera maculifronsThe photomontage of a cotype of syriaca from Egypt is collated from The Smithsonian Institute images at http://ripley.si.edu/ent/nmnhtypedb/public/specimeninfopage.cfm?publicconsumption=1&typespecimenID=398.

©2006, 2015, 2019 - Brian Taylor CBiol FRSB FRES
11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

href="tetraponera_maculifrons.htm"