Hypoponera petiolata (Bernard)
Type location Guinea
(Ponera petiolata n. sp., Bernard, 1952: 203, illustrated,
worker), Mt. Nimba, holotype only from Sérengbara, station B6-6,
collected by Lamotte
worker only described (new combination in Hypoponera,
in Bolton, 1995) .
Bolton & Fisher's (2011: 112) give notes describing
this as a "species inquirendae" and a possible specimen of Hypoponera
punctatissima. Their notes can be
found in http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/list/2011/2843.html.
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WORKER
- TL 2.6 mm, HL 0.75, HW 0.50
Entirely deep yellow, shiny, with only the borders of the head
brownish. Head, propodeum and gaster densely puncturated with large
punctures, regularly spaced by twice their diameter. Thorax with few
punctures, but with fine transverse rugae. Pliosity whitish-yellow,
short and recumbent, densest on the tarsi. Head elongated (length 1.5
times the width) and very convex, sides straight but widening gently
from the clypeus to a maximum just before the vertex. Antennal scape
not reaching the vertex. Eyes of a single large, rounded facet, about
one-sixth back from the mandibles. Clypeus slightly convex, with a
vague median carina, anterior margin rectilinear. Mandibles slightly
puncturated, with 4 large black teeth, subtended by 5 smaller yellow
teeth. Thorax profile almost flat. Propodeum short, rounded with
declivity flat, a little shorter than the dorsum, without marked
lateral margins. Petiole scale remarkable in its great volume, equal to
that of the propodeum, very high and thick.
Bernard (1952) noted how the voluminous petiole appeared
frequent in the "subgenus Hypoponera" but (in petiolata)
was new for a true "Ponera". H. petiolata was equally
isolated from the true "Ponera" by its pale colour and strong
puncturation rather than reticulation.
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