Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) acvapimensis Mayr
  Type locality Ghana (Camponotus acvapimensis n.sp.,
Mayr,
1862: 664, minor worker) collected at Akwapim Mountains - see below
junior synonyms
flavosetosus
(Camponotus (Myrmopiromis) flavosetosus, sp.n., Donisthorpe,
1945d: 271,
major & minor workers; synonymy by Brown, 1956a: 39) from Togo,
collected by H.E. Box, 1 major and 3 minors on cocoa, near Flabo
Falls, 11.xi.1944 - see below
poultoni (Camponotus
akwapimensis Mayr v. Poultoni
n. v., Forel, 1913c: 353, worker; Forel,
1915c: 348, male) from Nigeria, at Lagos, by W.A. Lamborn - see
http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0910101
In the earlier publications the name akwapimensis appears
several times (e.g. Santschi, 1935), although other versions include acwapimensis,
ackwapimensis and aquapimensis (Wheeler,
1922). Curiously, Mayr himself spelt the name of the locality as
"Akwapimgebirge" and then spelt the species name acvapimenis  .
With fresh specimens from Tanzania, close to the type
location, I have reverted Camponotus
(Myrmosaga) mombassae (Forel, 1886f: 180, soldier) from Kenya,
to its original status as a species - the synonymy was attributed to
Wheeler (1922: 948) in Bolton (1995: 84). Wheeler gave no indication of
actually sighting any specimens other than those from the Congo
Expedition and, like a number of other such synonymies, it now is clear
the synonymy was not justified, even the subgenus status is different.
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Forel (1915c) described akwapimensis variety poultoni
as having the largest workers with TL up to 8 mm; also with longer and
more abundant whitish pilosity. The males (not before
described) he had as TL 11.5-12.0; a little larger than the type,
otherwise indistinguishable. Specimens from St. Gabriel, Zaïre,
collected by Kohl, on fruits and nectar; once found in a termite nest.
Collingwood (1985), recording it from Saudi Arabia,
noted that in profile the dorsal outline of the alitrunk is more or
less continuous; the gaster and body uniformly dark, legs paler;
occiput with at least one seta at each corner; plus abundant dorsal and
gula hairs.
By origin probably a savannah species, it nests in
insolated ground and is found throughout West Africa, extending
eastwards right across tropical Africa. According to Lévieux, in Ivory
Coast savannah, at Ferkéssédougo, it may numbers as many as
2,000,000 individuals per hectare. He also described how workers
reproduce in queenless nests. Later, he described it how it is predated
upon by Myrmicaria opaciventris (as Myrmicaria nitidans,
presumably a mis-spelling of Myrmicaria nitida) and defends a
given area. There are several papers (Lévieux, 1967, 1973, 1978, 1982,
1983a; Lévieux & Louis, 1975). From the last, one can gather
remarks on the species - it was described as terricolous, gathering
most of its food from ground level or not far above, even when its
foraging goes to some height; it constructs tents over Homopterans,
from which it procures most of its sugars; its foraging is inhibited
when heavy rain makes leaf surfaces wet. It was found to be primarily
diurnally active but workers would forage also at night (Lévieux, 1972).
In Ghana, recorded from seedling cocoa on the
edge of a swollen-shoot outbreak by J. Paine, at Kwahu (25.xi.1944)
(Donisthorpe, 1945b). Leston (1973) regarded it as a dominant and
stated that, although largely a savannah species, it was almost
certainly to be found wherever a grassy clearing occurred in the forest
zone, and in cocoa its presence was indicative of a poor canopy and the
absence of shade. Room (1971) found it on herb foliage at the Mampong
Cemetery Farm and reported it as nesting in dead wood on the ground; he
also collected it twice in his cocoa canopy survey and, later, listed
it from cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1975). Majer found it in 21.5% of his
144 pkd samples at Kade, with 200-450 workers per sample (1975, 1976a,
b, c). Two workers were collected by pkd from the canopy of Amelonado
cocoa, and an average of eight workers per sampling area on the ground
at CRIG by Bigger (1981a). Belshaw & Bolton (1994b) collected two
workers at Bunso, as 'tourists' in leaf litter under secondary forest
and cocoa. Evans (1973) described its role as a vector of Phytophthora
pod rot of cocoa, but seemed to regard it as most important along the
edge of farms and probably most significant early in the season. This
was added to by Firempong (1975), who also worked in Ghana and
described it as having a facultative association with the black citrus
aphid, Toxoptera aurantii.
In Nigeria, it was reported, as Camponotus
akwapimensis, as attending larvae of a Lycaenid butterfly pest of
Pigeon Pea by Lamborn (1915), probably on the Moor Plantation farm,
Ibadan. Lamborn described how the ants grouped around the feeding
tunnel of the larva, thus revealing infested pods. We found it in cocoa
farms with a broken canopy, as a dominant on about 4.5% of trees, and
33/76 farms, in wetter areas (Taylor, 1977; Taylor & Adedoyin,
1978). An avid tender of Homoptera, including aphids, stictococcids and
pseudococcids, over which it often constructs roofs, or tents, of soil
particles. Taylor & Griffin (1981) found it to be a significant
vector of cocoa black pod disease by transporting contaminated soil for
its tents. Those results, from the E5/1
study, also enabled a mapping of the species in a large cocoa block and
showed how the pattern of light and shade was a key factor in such a
situation. Also found foraging on native trees and low vegetation, as
well as on cashew, coffee, kola, oil palm and plantain. Adenuga &
Adeboyeku (1987) report it as attending Homoptera on citrus, cocoa,
coffee, mango, okra and pigeon pea.
Common to very common in the Guinea, Mt. Nimba
survey collections, although sometimes absent; with no obvious
ecological pattern, being found at both forest and savanna locations,
up to 1600 m at Mount Tô (Bernard, 1952).
Ragge (1980) reported the apparent mimicry of
Camponotine ants by grasshopper nymphs of the genus Eurycorypha,
including a nymphal specimen in the British Museum which was labelled
"associated with Camponotus acvapimensis"; he does denote from
where that specimen came but mentions others from CRIG, in Ghana,
and Efulen in Cameroun.
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The
photomontage of the holotype minor worker is collated from 
The
photomontage of the type major of 
The
photomontage of a syntype minor worker of 
Nigeria
specimens (Taylor, 1978: 5) 
The
photomontage is of a major from Benin; Forêt de Gbèvozoumè;
collector S Tchibozo. 
The
photomontage is of a minor from Benin, as above. This is an
exact match for the type minor worker.
Major. The
photomontages here and below
(minor and queen) are of specimens collected in Ghana by S Sky
Stephens, 2006. 
Minor from
Ghana 
The
photomontage is of a minor worker from Cameroon,
30 km east of Poli (ca °29' N 13°29' E) at a Sudan-Guinea savannah
location (McKey Wolbachia project) Cameroon 129. 
The photomontage
is of a major from Gabon,
Pongara National Park; collector Yves Braet.
Minor from Gabon,
as above. 
Queen from
Ghana, S Sky Stephens.
Male from
the