The Ants of Africa
Genus Cataglyphis
Cataglyphis congolensis (Stitz) - new status

Cataglyphis congolensis (Stitz) - new status

return to key {link to the Hymenoptera Name Server} Type location Chad [French Congo] (Myrmecocystus bicolor F. v. congolensis n.v., Stitz, 1916, worker, illustrated) collected at Fort Archambault, by Schubotz - see below .


Stitz's (1916) description is at {original description}.

Agosti (1990, p 1469) listed it under the bicolor group, setipes complex but later in his text (p 1487) has it simply as bicolor var. congolensis. The inclusion under setipes has to be seen as erroneous.


{Cataglyphis congolensis}Santschi (1929b) provided a key to species, subspecies and varieties of Cataglyphis bicolor. The following separations seem relevant here:
Thorax red or dull red;
bicolor s.s. - petiole node rounded; little pubescence on pronotum or shorter than on propodeum; head, thorax and appendages uniform clear red in large workers; gaster entirely black shiny above; smaller workers with lower legs and thorax tending to brownish-black; north of 30° N.
congolensis - pubescence of tibiae and tarsi fine and close together; petiole node triangular with rounded summit and height less than length; south of 30° N; note his petiole illustration (Fig. 16) is wrong.

In addition to the distinct petiole, Santschi noted that congolensis had the red a little darker than the type bicolor (although less so than desertorum). Appendages as the body; gaster matt black. Occipitum, lower head and gaster and legs somewhat shiny. Sides of thorax and femora pubescent; lower head, thorax and gaster pilous; upper body glabrous. Apparently widespread in Sudan and Senegal. The name is misleading, as it stemmed from the type location being in "French Congo", at the time of the collection (already by 1929 the area was in Chad).

Other specimens seen by Santschi came from mid-Niger, Ouro N'Geirou [Ouro Nguérou, Mali?], by R. Chudeau; and Tassakante, Mali [French Sudan], by Chevalier, locations from a relatively small area; also Senegal, by Le Moult, Baol Oriental, at Thiès by A. Chevalier, 1904. Thus it would be wrong to see it as a Congo Basin species.

Specimens labelled by Stitz as Myrmecocystus bicolor v gibbosus and in the Berlin Zoological Museum clearly are identical to congolensis, see the photomontage at the bottom.


{Cataglyphis congolensis}The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0104614


{Cataglyphis congolensis}The photomontage (right) of a worker from Ethiopia, determined by Stitz, and labelled with an unpublished variety name gibbosa, is derived from the images at http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0104612


Oxford University Museum specimens

Cataglyphis congolensis
B Taylor det.
Sudan
Awatif Omer
2015.01

22.v.2015
Er Rahad
12˚43' N
30˚13' E
elevation 491 m
hand collected
transect
minor workers

2
{album}
Cataglyphis congolensis
B Taylor det.
Sudan
Awatif Omer
2015.33
25.v.2015
Jebel El Dair
12˚27' N
30˚40' E
elevation 571 m
hand collected
transect
minor workers
2
{album}
Cataglyphis congolensis
B Taylor det.
Sudan
Awatif Omer
2015.39
25.v.2015
Jebel El Dair
12˚27' N
30˚40' E
elevation 571 m
hand collected
transect
minor workers
1
{album}

{Cataglyphis congolensis} The photomontage is of a worker from Sudan, Er Rahad; Awatif Omer (2015.01)


{Cataglyphis congolensis} The photomontage is of a worker from Sudan, Er Rahad; Awatif Omer (2015.33)

Contents
© 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 - Brian Taylor CBiol FRSB FRES
11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

href="cataglyphis_congolensis.htm"