Phrynoponera striatidens (Santschi) stat. nov.

Type location Cameroun (Pachycondyla (Bothroponera) gabonensis André var striatidens n. var., Santschi, 1914d: 315, illustrated, worker) collected at Victoria by F. Silvestri, in 1913
Worker only described (see Bolton, 1995) .

Santschi's (1914d) illustrated description of striatidens is at - . This is quite insufficient in details, giving no measurements of any kind. He commented on the mandibles being densely striated and submat rather than smooth and shiny as in the type gabonensis; the striations on the head are very divergent; the alitrunk is more robust; the gaster is matt, densely reticulo-punctate with large deep punctures but without true hair-pits (fossettes).

Wheeler (1922) wrote of four specimens from Medje, Akenge and Ngayu, Zaïre (Lang and Chapin collection), all from the stomachs of toads (Bufo polycercus, funereus and tuberosus). "These specimens have the coloration of the typical gabonensis and variety fecunda and the abdominal sculpture of the latter, but the mandibles are subopaque and finely striated, except at the base, in addition to having the coarse punctures of the other varieties. The epinotal [propodeal] spines appear to be a little longer and more acute than in any of those forms".

Images of the type worker are not on Antweb (April 2015).

The photomontage of a cotype of Phyrnoponera gabonensis striatidens from Zaïre is collated from original photographs, which, together with enlarged images, are from the MCZ, Harvard University, website at - MCZ link.

Examining the illustrations given by Santschi (1914d) and the MCZ photographs of a cotype give a number of points of distinction (I assume the 1 mm scale is accurate) -
in profile the transition from the vertex to the occiput of the head is a smooth curve, with the occiput short and convex - in gabonensis the head profile is a distinct right-angled, although curved, transition from the vertex to a flat occiput;
the alitrunk is noticeably shorter, AL = 2.35 mm;
in dorsal view, the petiole has narrower, sharper lateral teeth and shorter inner and medial teeth;
in lateral view, the propodeal teeth are shorter, flatter and narrower.