Hypoponera dulcis (Forel)

Type location Tanzania (Ponera dulcis n. sp., Forel, 1907a: 2, worker; illustrated by Santschi, 1914b; queen, Arnold 1915: 82) collected at Arusha-chini by Katona, worker and queen described (Wheeler, 1922) - no type images on Antweb (Janaury 2015)
subspecies uncta (Ponera dulcis For. var. uncta n. var., Santschi, 1914e: 7, worker) from South Africa, Zululand - no images on Antweb (January 2015)

New combination in Hypoponera (Bolton, 1995) .

Bolton & Fisher (2011: 15) additionally synonymised the following but I show my prior interpretation of these as the synonymy seems far from certain and is, at least, confusing when one is faced with such clear colour variations. Note: the Arnold queen can be seen on - http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0902542 -  it was collected in Zimbabwe and, therefore, not a true type.

dulcis - Forel described the type as reddish or red-yellow, head and antennal club rather brownish, gaster yellow brown
rothkirchi - the workers I have that match the yellow-brown specimen shown by Bolton & Fisher (casent0226572 - see below); described as yellow-gold, with yellow antenna, by Wasmann (1918b)
lotti - the workers from Congo that I regard as lotti are very dark brown quite distinct from the chestnut-brown dulcis from Gabon; this is as described by Weber (1942a);
muscicola - queen only known, Bolton & Fisher refer to males and queens but do not describe or illustrate either	No images on Antweb (Janaury 2015)
lamottei	Images at http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915486
mandibularis	Images of queen at http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915483
villiersi	Headless images at http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915482

Forel's (1907a) description is at . Arnold (1915: 82) gave a translation, this is at . Santschi's (1914e) description of uncta is at . Arnold (1926) gave a translation, this is at .

Specimens of aemula, designated as lectotype and paralectotype, were examined by Seifert (2003b: 68 & 69). He removed it to the status of a junior synonym of Hypoponera schauinslandi. Santschi's (1911c) description of aemula is at .

Bolton & Fisher's treatment can be found in http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/list/2011/2843.html.

Wheeler (1922) listed many findings from eastern Africa - Eritrea to South Africa. From Guinea, the first record for West Africa, Nion, 700m, station 22 (15.iv.1946, Lamotte) 1 worker, 2 queens; Nimba, north-east forest, leaf litter (ix,1946, Villiers). Specimens somewhat lighter than the form common in eastern and southern Africa (Bernard, 1952).

Bernard (1952) gave the workers as - TL 2.7-3.0 mm; colour yellow-brown to yellow-red. Antennal scapes surpassing the vertex of the head. Clypeus rectilinear, or feebly concave apically; mandibles with 3-4 clear teeth, and 9-10 reduced denticles. Declivity of propodeum twice as long as dorsum, angle between faces very blunt.

The specimens from Gabon shown below seem to be a very close match to the Forel description in all aspects. The similarity to Hypoponera trigona (see below) is obvious, although dulcis is some 30% smaller. Santschi (1914b: 53), gave an illustration (above right) and noted the petiole scale on the examples from Tanzania was even narrower than Ponera trigona.

Oxford University Museum specimens

Hypoponera dulcis B Taylor det.	Gabon Y Braet Gabon 152	17-22.v.2006 Pongara 00°34' N 09°19' E	Leaf litter, winkler funnel	1
Hypoponera dulcis B Taylor det.	Gabon Y Braet Gabon 200	17-22.v.2006 Pongara 00°34' N 09°19' E	Leaf litter, winkler funnel	1
Hypoponera dulcis B Taylor det.	Gabon Y Braet Gabon 37	27.v.2006 Pongara 00°34' N 09°19' E	Pointe Wingombe, termitarium	1
Hypoponera dulcis B Taylor det.	Gabon Y Braet Gabon 228	27.vi-10.vii.2006 Pongara 00°34' N 09°19' E	Leaf litter, winkler funnel	4
Hypoponera dulcis B Taylor det. Male	Gabon Y Braet Gabon 206	17.v-09.vi.2006 Pongara 00°34' N 09°19' E	Savannah, malaise trap	1

The photomontage is of a worker from Gabon, Pongara National Park; collector Yves Braet (Gabon 37).

The photomontage is of a worker from Gabon, Pongara National Park; collector Yves Braet (Gabon 228).

The photomontage of a worker from Cameroun, that matches my interpretation of the type form is collected from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0270530.

The photomontage of a worker from Gabon, Monts Doudou, 9.iii.2000, B L Fisher; is from Bolton & Fisher (2011) and is also on http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0226572. This specimen appears to be lighter than those I interpret as the type form and matches my rothkirchi.

Note: Forel (1907a) compared it with trigona, i.e. Ponera punctatissima Rog. var. trigona n. v., of Mayr (1887: 537), type location Brazil; raised to species by Forel (1893g: 364) and in Hypoponera by Taylor (1968a:63). Mayr's (1887) description of trigona is at . Kempf (1962b: 10) gave a modern, illustrated description, this is at .

The photomontage of a Hypoponera trigona specimen is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0173719&shot=p1&project=paraguayants

The photomontage is of a speculative male from Gabon, Pongara National Park; collector Yves Braet (Gabon 206). Caught in a malaise trap and so unassociated with workers.