Mesoponera escherichi (Forel)

Type location Eritrea (Pachycondyla (Bothroponera) escherichi n. sp., Forel, 1910c: 244, worker; combination in Mesoponera, Emery, 1911d: 82; in Pachycondyla Bolton, 1995: 305; reverted by Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014: 110) Nefassit
worker only described (see Bolton, 1995; who had type location "Ethiopia"; also still in Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014: 110) .

Forel's (1910c) description is at .

P. escherichi: translation of original description (Marcus Stüben, 8.11.2006) Worker. TL 5 mm, mandibles not long, with 7 teeth, shiny, scattered coarse punctures, nearly smooth (with a few weak striae), the base of the external margin of the mandible without a pit or fovea. Clypeus convex, without any carina, with an anterior median blunt triangular lobe, only weakly projecting forward. Head rectangular, about 1/6 longer than broad, with moderately convex sides, in front nearly as broad as behind (behind just a little broader), the occiput weakly concave. Eyes flat, small, set in the anterior third of the head with hardly 40 indistinct facettes (about 8 or 9 mm longitudinal diameter [obviously a misprint, perhaps 0.8-0.9 mm]). Frontal carinae short and widest apart anteriorly, median groove (on vertex) hardly longer than frontal carinae. The antennal scape not or hardly reaching beyond the occiput. Joints of the funiculus 2 to 10 about as broad as long (the first ones a little longer than broad, the last ones reverse). Both thoracic sutures distinct, with the metanotal suture being weaker. Mesonotum as broad as long. The dorsum (basal area) of propodeum longer than broad and as long as the declivity. Alitrunk shape as in crassa, but the dorsum only very slightly longitudinally convex. The propodeal declivity weakly sinuous and not sharply margined. The mesopleura in front with a blunt tooth, which faces another blunt one on the lowest hind corner of the pronotum. Petiole scale as high as the gaster, twice as broad as long, in front and behind vertically cut off, with nearly smooth, a little concave and bluntly margined posterior face; with a ventral vertical longitudinal lobe. Gaster in front cut off, weakly girdled between the first and second segments. Tibiae with two spurs, the second small. Middle and hind metatarsi quite long, on outer/dorsal side without setae, these only on the inner/ventral side. Overall very densely punctuate and dull. Gaster and petiole moderately shiny, less dense and more finely punctuate; also the legs and the scape. In addition there are coarse, not very well defined, scattered pit-like punctures on the gaster, petiole and alitrunk dorsum. Quite short, yellowish and fine erect pilosity; quite abundant on the gaster, less on the alitrunk and few only the head and scape, none on the tibiae. Pubescence all over fine, yellowish, moderate. Brownish-red; antennae and legs a little brighter; mandibles brownish-yellow.
From Nefassit. Holotype worker only. This species tends to the genus Euponera (Mesoponera) because of the distinct metanotal groove or suture [absent in Bothroponera]. All other characters match its relatives in the subgenus Bothroponera. Anyway it is close to Euponera (Mesoponera) fossigera Mayr from South Africa (Kapland), but it lacks a fovea on the basal part of the mandible [this is confusing as fossigera lacks a fovea - so this may imply escherichi does have one!]. Mayr himself is not sure to which genera his species belongs.

The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0907252

Nigeria specimens (as Mesoponera caffraria, Taylor, 1976: 25). WORKER. Size variable, TL 6.97-7.66 mm, HL 1.68-1.87, HW 1.43-1.59, SL 1.24-1.40, PW 1.09-1.18.
Dense pilosity. Mandibles large triangular, with more than eight teeth. Clypeus longitudinally carinate. Metanotal groove present and impressed. Propodeum compressed above, considerably narrower in dorsal view than the pronotum, posterior face concave. Petiole a thick scale, subpetiolar process with rounded corners or a very small tooth at the anterior corner. Colour dark red-brown, lighter brown on extremities, funicular apex yellow.
I collected it from under a dead log and in soil at the base of a large tree, also on leaf litter at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre, Block E5/1.

Apparently quite similar to Mesoponera wroughtoni, but that is smaller and has striated mandibles. As the definitive Mesoponera caffraria is well defined and matched by the specimens from Nigeria and Cameroun, it seems clear that this is a variation of escherichi.

Oxford University Museum specimens

Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Liabala PF 11	2.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°31’06" N 08°35’34" E	Pitfall trap Secondary forest 473 m asl	1
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Liabala PF 17	2.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°31’06" N 08°35’34" E	Pitfall trap Secondary forest 473 m asl	1
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa PF 18	29.iii.2013 Nimba County 07°33’38" N 08°32’33" E	Pitfall trap Degraded secondary forest 518 m asl Queen	1
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa Camp 4 PF 4	6.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°33’04" N 08°33’17" E	Pitfall trap Floodplain & marsh 501 m asl	1
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa Camp 4 PF 12	6.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°33’04" N 08°33’17" E	Pitfall trap Floodplain & marsh 501 m asl Queen	2
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa Camp 4 PF 15	6.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°33’04" N 08°33’17" E	Pitfall trap Floodplain & marsh 501 m asl	1
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa Camp 4 PF 16	6.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°33’04" N 08°33’17" E	Pitfall trap Floodplain & marsh 501 m asl Queen	2
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa Camp 4 PF 17	6.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°33’04" N 08°33’17" E	Pitfall trap Floodplain & marsh 501 m asl Queens	2
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Liberia E Poirier Yekepa Camp 4 PF 18	6.iv.2013 Nimba County 07°33’04" N 08°33’17" E	Pitfall trap Floodplain & marsh 501 m asl	2
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	Cameroun A Fotso Kuate Pachycondyla sp6	9.v.2007 Awae II 03°54'30" N 11°25'58" E	Quadrat in fallow	1
Mesoponera escherichi B Taylor det.	South Africa Peter Hlavác	25-26.i.2004 Grootvadersbosch 33°59.39' S 20°48.32' E	Western Cape, Grootvadersbosch N.R., S  E ; 350 m	3

The photomontage is of a worker from Liberia; Liabala; collector E Poirier (Liabala PF XVIII)

The photomontage is of a delate queen from Liberia; Yekepa; collector E Poirier (Yekepa PF XVIII)

The photomontage is of a worker from Cameroun; Awae II; collector A Fotso Kuate (fk pachycondyla sp6)

The photomontage is of a worker from South Africa, Western Cape, Knysna Env.; collector Peter Hlavác.

The photomontage is of a specimen from South Africa, collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=sam-hym-c0011627a. It is shown on the Antweb page as "Pachycondyla wroughtoni", but that is quite dark brown with near smooth mandibles, which do not have a basal fovea.