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The Ants of
Africa SUBFAMILY PROCERATIINAE Genus Proceratium |
Contents - Proceratiinae - PROCERATIINAE Introduction |
In Tribe PROCERATIINI.
Diagnostic Features - Tergite of second gastral tergite
strongly vaulted so that the remaining segments point anteriorly.
Alitrunk devoid of sutures. Mandibles with three or more teeth, not
overhung by the clypeus. Apical segment of the antenna moderately
enlarged but not bulbous. Roger's (1863a) genus definition is at . Proceratium,
junior synonym Sysphincta (Brown, in Borgmeier, 1957: 118).
Bolton (1973a) mentions a single, unnamed, West African species, known only from rotten wood in Ghana. Members elsewhere normally prey on the eggs of arthropods (Hölldobler and Wilson (1990, pages 224, 565).
The genus was revised by Baroni Urbane & De Andrade (2003). The
parts relevant to species known from sub-Saharan Africa are at, pp
59-62, . and, pp 282-305,
. Unfortunately, the
illustrations they gave were mostly monochrome SEM images and have not
scanned well [Baroni Urbani, C. and M. L. De Andrade. 2003. The ant
genus Proceratium in the extant and fossil record (Hymenoptera:
Formicidae). Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Monografie, 36,
1-480]
Key to Afrotropical species, developed from Terron (1981) - .
1 | ![]() |
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Ghana - boltoni |
-- | Clypeus in dorsal view not or only slightly projecting forwards of the frontal carinae, border entire | 2 |
2 | Eyes well developed with 8 or 25 ommatidia | 3 |
-- | Eyes with no more than one ommatidia or absent | 4 |
3 | ![]() |
Kenya - toschii |
-- | ![]() |
Burundi - burundense |
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as coecum in Terron key - Cameroun - terroni |
-- | Eyes reduced but visible | 5 |
5 | ![]() |
Zimbabwe - arnoldi |
-- | ![]() |
. |
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Cameroun - lunatum |
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PONERINAE Introduction |
© 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014 - Brian Taylor CBiol
FSB FRES 11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K. |
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