Lepisiota guineensis (Mayr) - new status

Type location Ghana (Acantholepis capensis Mayr var guineensis nov. var., Mayr, 1902: 296, worker) collected at Accra, by Buchholz .

Mayr's (1902) description is at . Yellow-brown with well developed petiolar spines; raised here to status of a distinct species [I suspect the true colour is darker with only the appendages being yellow brown]. The type image (below) suggests otherwise but the species may well be variable, as the fresh workers (bottom) vary from the type colour to nearer black-brown.

Nigeria specimens (as Acantholepis capensis, Taylor, 1978: 34). WORKER. Size variable; TL 2.68-2.49 mm, HL 0.65, HW 0.59, CI 91, SL 0.76, SI 129, PW 0.42
Colour black, extremities red-brown, especially the base of the antennal scape, shiny. No sculpturation other than marked long rugae on mesonotum. Erect, colourless hairs relatively abundant. Propodeal prominences blunt. Petiole with a pair of spines.
The specimens drawn and described represent the Lepisiota form most commonly seen at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre, CRIN, where it was one of the most abundant of all ant species.

Nests are usually made in dead wood both on standing trees or on the ground. Forage widely across the ground and on almost any vegetation or trees.

Dominant on 9-10% of cocoa, and 53/76 farms (combined result with Lepisiota sp. T²) in Nigeria (Booker, 1968?, as Ac. capensis incisa; Taylor, 1977; Taylor & Adedoyin, 1978), where they are avid tenders of aphids and coccids, often building tents of soil material over these Homoptera; curiously these soil tents have not been found to be associated with black pod disease. Also found on coffee, kola, oil palm and plantains.

Found in Ghana cocoa, as Ac. capensis Mayr, but apparently not very common. Leston (1973) described it as a savannah ant which had penetrated only the more degraded areas of the forest zone, but on cocoa could have colonies extending at times over several dozen trees. Collected by Room (1971) on cocoa canopy and on open ground and herbs (at Mampong Cemetery Farm and in his canopy survey), and by Majer (1975, 1976b) at Kade, using pkd, apparently one worker only. Nineteen workers were collected on the ground from a block of mature Amelonado cocoa at CRIG by Bigger (1981a).

The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0909872

Oxford University Museum specimens

Lepisiota guineensis B Taylor det.	Benin J-F Vayssieres RVA 2702	28.i.2011 Korobourou 09°22'13'' N 02°40'16'' E	Mangifera indica orchard on ground and on tree	2
Lepisiota guineensis B Taylor det.	Benin J-F Vayssieres RVA 2943	27.ix.2012 Korobourou 09°22'13'' N 02°40'16'' E	Mangifera indica orchard Quadrat 5, tube 3, variété: Gouverneur Arboreal	2
Lepisiota guineensis B Taylor det.	Benin J-F Vayssieres RVA 2963	8.xi.2012 Koro 09°22'21'' N 02°40'13'' E	Anacardium occidentale To 15 Arboreal nesting in hollow branch	3
Lepisiota guineensis B Taylor det.	Benin J-F Vayssieres RVA 2969	8.xi.2012 Koro 09°22'21'' N 02°40'13'' E	On Mangifera indica; Ifac T2-8; antagonistic to Oecophylla longinoda nesting in hollow branch at 2.5 m	2
Lepisiota guineensis B Taylor det.	Benin J-F Vayssieres RVA 2977	7.xi.2012 Koro 09°22'21'' N 02°40'13'' E	Under bark of Eucalyptus (c)	2
Lepisiota guineensis B Taylor det.	Congo Y Braet	Brazzaville area – ca. 4°15'33" S 15°17'5" E	Hand collection	i

The photomontage is of a specimen from Benin, Korobouro; collector J-F Vayssieres (RVA2702).

The photomontage is of a specimen from Congo, Brazzaville area, ca 4°15'33" S 15°17'5" E; hand collected by Yves Braet, 2007.

The photomontage is derived from images at www.discoverlife.org - originals by Gary Alpert, Harvard University; Ivory Coast specimens.