Asphinctopone silvestrii Santschi

Type location Nigeria (Santschi, 1914d: 318, illustrated, worker) collected at Olokemeji by F. Silvestri, in 1913; worker only described (see Bolton, 1995) .

Santschi's description (1914d, 318) is at . My translation is -
WORKER - TL 3.7 mm; colour yellow rust. Pubescence very sparse on the body, moderate on the legs. Few erect hairs except around the mouth and the gastral apex. Shiny. smooth with fine somewhat serrated puncturation on the head, very discrete on the rest of the body. Propodeum more reddish and with several large elongated punctures.
Head slightly longer than wide, by about a quarter; sides and posterior border feebly convex and the angles rounded. Eye of 4-5 facets, shorter than the width of the scape and set in the anterior third of the head. The two frontal lobes are split in the middle by a small groove with indents at both anterior and posterior ends. the frontla notch feebly marked and reaching the middle of the face. Clypeus with a strong carina which descends perpendicularly to the anterior border and is arcuate in profile. In the median two quarters the clypeus projects as a subrectangular lobe with strong dentate anterior angles. Mandibles smooth, with five strong teeth, the external border near straight and strongly curved towards the apex. The scape does not reach the the occiput. Funiculus with the first segment conical, nearly twice as long as broad; segments 2-9 much shorter than wide; the tenth a little longer and the apical segment as long as the preceding five combined. Pronotum convex and rounded on the sides and in front; strongly narrowed behind and much wider than long. Promesonotal suture deep. Mesonotum a transverse oval, almost twice as wide as long, quite strongly convex, as high in front as the pronotum and descending posteriorly. Metanotal suture slightly larger and deeper than the promesontal suture. Propodeum dorsum narrow, about one-third longer than wide, convex from front to back, shorter than the declivity which is very oblique and bordered. Petiole scale as high as the gaster and wider than the propodeum; narrowed at the sides which are blunt and the summit a little acuminate; posterior face convex from top to bottom and inclined awkwardly, anterior face straight from top to bottom and convex across. Gaster without any narrowing behind the first segment, arcuate ventrally and the base obliquely truncated ventrally. Coxae robust and legs short.
Nigeria, Olokomeji, xii.1912, collector F. Silvestri; a single worker.

Bernard (1952) noted it as from Ivory Coast, Dimbroko, apparently referring to the Santschi paper. Found in Nigeria by Barry Bolton from a black-rotten, very wet banana trunk near Ibadan (Bolton, 1973a). Collected in Ghana, 6 workers, from leaf litter in the semi-deciduous forest zone - under cocoa at Ofinso, and under primary and secondary forest at Bunso - by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b). Now known from Cameroun, collected by the Campo Forest study (Bolton, Dejean & Ngnegueu, 1992), one instance from an abandoned termitarium of Cubitermes banksi.

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0406793
Collection details - Locality: Central African Republic: Prefecture Sangha-Mbaéré; Parc National Dzanga-Ndoki, Mabéa Bai, 21.4 km 53° NE Bayanga; 03°02'00"N 016°24'36"E, 510m. Collection Information: Collection codes: BLF4000. Date: 1-7 May 2001. Collected by: B.L.Fisher. Method: EC19 sifted litter. Habitat: rainforest. Transect Type: MW 50 sample transect, 5m Transect Sample No.: 26.
Other images of Ivory Coast specimens can be seen at www.discoverlife.org