Bondroitia lujae (Forel)
Type location Zaïre (Diplomorium
Lujae n. sp., Forel, 1909b: 72, all forms) Sankura, Kassai;
collected by an expedition
including Mr. Luja)
junior synonym coecum (Monomorium
(Martia) coecum n. sp., Forel, 1911c: 299, worker; location wrongly
given
as Switzerland, see Bolton, 1987: 277, illustrated - full face and
alitrunk profile)
all forms known (Bolton, 1995) .
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My
translation of the worker is -
TL 2.1-2.5 mm; mandibles smooth, shiny, sparsely puncturate; straight
but with terminal border highly oblique, with 4 teeth, sometimes 5.
Clypeus as with (Diplomorium) longipenne - convex
without teeth or carinae. Head square, as wide as long, and as wide
anteriorly as posteriorly; widely and feebly impressed dorsally; sides
feebly convex. Frontal carinae short. No post-clypeal notch. No eyes.
Scapes reaching the posterior fifth of the head and slightly expanded
in apical half. Antennae 11-segmented (note some workers have
10-segments only); distinct 3-segmented club, the last segment as long
as the previous two together; the club as long as the rest of the
funiculus, segments 2-7 being narrower than long. Promesonotum without
a suture; a little flattened dorsally but with rounded anterior angles.
Metanotal groove narrow, shallow, but distinct. Propodeum dorsum
narrow, a little longer than the declivity, longer than wide and widest
posteriorly; no propodeal teeth and declivity obtusely subordered;
viewed from above, the pedicel nodes are rounded, of similar size and a
little wider than long; the petiole slightly concave in front, higher
than the postpetiole, as long as the pedicel which is slender. Gaster
oval. Legs short, anterior tarsi slender and short.
Smooth and shiny. Puncturation moderate sized piligerous and abundant
on the head and thorax. Erect hairs very sparse, yellow. Pubescence
more abundant, short, yellowish, a little raised; scapes and tibiae
with short, oblique pubescence.
Dull yellow; gaster, pedicel and legs pale yellow.
Forel also described the female, TL 13 mm; and male, TL 6.7-7.7 mm.
Interestingly, Forel wrote nothing about the crossed
over mandibles, large fore coxae or large propodeal spiracle; all of
which Bolton stressed in his comparative reasons for separating Bondoitia
as a separate genus from Diplomorium. I guess this was because
the general body form of members of the two genera members is similar -
see Diplomorium
longipenne.
Wheeler (1922) had it as B. lujae from Sankuru,
Zaïre, collected by Luja. It is pictured in Hölldobler & Wilson
(1990, page 100). A detailed description also was given by Ettershank
(1966, illustrated), as Diplomorium lujae.
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