Cerapachys foreli (Santschi)

Type locality Ghana (Phyracaces Foreli n. sp., Santschi, 1914d: 309, worker; Santschi, 1915c: 245, queen; combination in Cerapachys and synonymy, Brown, 1975: 22) collected at Aburi, by F. Silvestri, 1913 - see below
junior synonyms
langi (Phyracaces langi new species, Wheeler, 1922: 54, illustrated, worker & queen) from Zaïre - no images on Antweb (March 2015)
santschii (Phyracaces santschii new species, Wheeler, 1922: 56, queen) from Gabon - no images on Antweb (March 2015)
(see Bolton, 1995) .

Note I have revived Cerapachys occipitalis (Bernard) from Brown's synonymy.

Santschi's (1914d) description is at and his (1915c) description of the female, from Gabon, Samkita, by F. Faure, with small diagrams of female and worker petiole dorsum) is at . Wheeler's (1922) descriptions of langi and santschii are at

From Ghana, probably this species was reported from cocoa leaf litter by Room (1971). Collected by pkd at Kade by Majer (1975); and described as widespread by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b), 55 workers from leaf litter samples at eleven sites in the semi-deciduous forest zone.

The Zaïre finding was a single collection of 7 workers and 8 females taken nesting in "mushroom-shaped termitarium against a tree in the forest" (by Lang & Chapin, in Wheeler, 1922).

Brown (1975: 61) noted that Raignier and van Boven had taken it nesting in hollow twigs in Zaïre (Epulu and Reserve Floristique de Yangambi, 29 March 1949); also listing silvestrii findings by Ross & Leech, at 26 Km S of Uvira, at 800 m, 10 January 1958. He had found members climbing a tree trunk in sparse single file in a copse in the tall grass Dabou Savanna (47 km west of Abidjan), Ivory Coast - three ants (18 January 1963). He also listed findings from Ghana at Tafo by B Bolton, 26 November 1970. He added that the West African specimens all averaged considerably smaller that those from Congo and the posterolateral teeth on the petiole were generally more developed in the former.

The photomontage is of a cotype Cerapachys foreli (as Phyraces langi) from Zaïre. It is collated from the original photographs, which, together with enlarged images, are from the MCZ, Harvard University, website at - MCZ link.

The Antweb worker from Gabon (below) has exactly the same size and proportions, including the eye length.

The species type queen can be seen at http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0911258

Oxford University Museum specimens

Cerapachys foreli B Taylor det. Queen

Gabon Y Braet Gabon 183

17-22.v.2006 Pongara 00°34' N 09°19' E

Leaf litter, winkler funnel

2

The photomontage is of a queen from Gabon, Pongara National Park; collector Yves Braet (Gabon 183).

Dorsal view of petioles from Santschi (1915c)

The photomontage of a worker from Gabon, is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0005962