Baracidris pilosa Fernández
Type location Uganda
(Fernández, 2003: 35, illustrated, worker) .
The description is unavailable on HNS and was
included in paper on Adelomyrmex, thus I knew
nothing of it until December 2009.
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Fernando Fernández has kindly sent me the following text
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Worker measurements: Holotype (Paratype) HL 052 (054) HW 046 (047) SL
037
(038) PW 032 (033) WL 059 (060) CI 88 (87) SI 80 (81) TL 2.14 (2.39)
Holotype worker: UGANDA: Mt Elgon, Kapwata, 2250m, 30.v.93, Cuccodoro
& Eme
Not. 16a (Deposited in NHM). Paratype: KENYA: Embu Irangi Forest
Station,
2000m, 11.x.77, V. Mannest, J.L. Perret (Deposited in IAvH).
Monomorphic. Mandibles with five teeth decreasing in size from apical
to
basal the apical and subapical larger, third teeth intermediate in
size, the
remaining small. Mandibles shining sculptured with longitudinal
rugulae.
Apical flagelum of the antennae considerably bigger than others, so
there is
not a strongly club of 2 segments. Median portion of clypeus sharply
raised
in the form of a narrow longitudinal ridge, their anterior margin
projecting
feebly past clypeus. Frontal lobes small and very close, separated by
narrow
strip, smooth and shining. Eye minute with a single ocellus of diameter
of
slighlty more than 0.010 mm. Occipital margin very slightly concave
medially. Promesonotum forming along convexity in profile. Metanotal
groove
well impressed, breaking clearly the profile of the mesosoma. Propodeum
short sloping posteriorly to the short but broad triangular teeth.
Metapleural lobe big, broadly rounded, connected with propodeal teeth
by a
lamella. Four to five transverse carinae in the declivity posterior
face of
the propodeum. Petiole in profile with the peduncle shorter than the
node.
Node of petiole and postpetiole dorsally convex.. In dorsal view the
petiole
slightly wider than longer, the anterior peduncle a little broader than
long
and shorter than node; the node wider than peduncle. Postpetiole in
dorsal
view slightly broader than long, their sides slightly convex.
Postpetiole in
profile with the sternite produced into a truncated ventral process.
Dorsum
and sides of head with small and close packed foveolate punctures, the
spaces between smooth and shining. A central longitudinal narrow area
of
head devoid of punctures. Dorsum of mesosoma with similar punctures,
but
scattered along lateral margins, most of the central area smooth and
shining. Sides of pronotum with a few scattered marginal punctures,
most of
the area smooth and shining. Otherwise sides of mesosoma with more or
less
oblique longitudinal rugulae. Dorsum and sides of petiole and
postpetiole
with scattered punctures, some of petiole somehow mixed with rugulae.
Head,
petiole and postpetiole with dense long reclinated hair, mesosoma with
less
hairs. Body devoid of appressed pubescence. Body dark brown, appendages
light brown, hairs whitish.
This new species of Baracidris
has some interesting taxonomic and
biogeographic implications. The clypeal configuration brings this
species
close to the basic plan of Adelomyrmex,
in which the raising anteriorly of
the clypeus as a narrow bidentate plate is distinctive. In some species
this band is even more reduced.
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