Psalidomyrmex procerus Emery

Type location Cameroun (Psalidomyrmex procerus n. sp., Emery, 1901a: 50, all forms, only worker is new; first described by Emery, 1899e: 471, queen & male as Psalidomyrmex foevolatus, presumably collected at Mundame by Conradt
junior synonyms
collarti (Psalidomyrmex procerus Em. stirps collarti n. st., Santschi, 1937g: 74, worker) from Zaïre, Ituri, Matenda, A. Collart, 22.ix.1929 - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=rmcaent000017735
obesus (Wheeler, 1922: 92, fig.19, see right, worker) from Zaïre - see below
longiscapus (Psalidomyrmex longiscapus n. sp., Santschi, 1920b: 8, queen) from Gabon, Samkita, F. Faure - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915302
all forms described (see Bolton, 1995) .

Emery's (1899e) description of the queen & male is at . Emery's (1901a) correction is at . Santschi's (1920b) description of longiscapus is at . Santschi (1937g) synonymised obesus and described collarti, these are at . Bolton's modern description (1975b) is at .

The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0911272.

WORKER - large, TL 11.4-16.2 mm; mandibles elongate-subtriangular, edentate. Antennal scapes relatively short, head relatively broad, petiole broader than long. Colour black (Bolton, 1975: 12, illustrated, mandible only). Sculpturation of mandibles, legs, antennal scapes and expanded lobes of frontal carinae always striate.

Wheeler (1922) listed it also from Togo (Bismarckburg, Conradt) and Zaïre.

The photomontage is of a cotype of Psalidomyrmex obesus from Zaïre. The original photographs, together with enlarged images, are from the MCZ, Harvard University, website at - MCZ link.

Bernard (1952, finding not listed by Bolton, 1975) described it as apparently common in Cameroun and Congo. In Guinea a small specimen, Nimba II-VI, was shorter (TL 11.8 ) than the type from Cameroun (TL 15.2), colour black-grey rather than black-red, and stronger abdominal sculpturation. Otherwise similar with the petiole and thorax larger than other species. The antennae have good defining characters (see group illustration). Hairs very sparse and brown-black.

Bolton (1975b) examined specimens from Cameroun , Yolé and Mt. Nkolodon (G. Terron) and Matute (B. Malkin). Also from Ghana, at CRIG (B. Bolton; D. Leston), Kade, Atewa Forest Reserve and Kukurantumi (D. Leston); Zaïre, Gabon and Uganda (Bolton, 1975b). A specimen from Zaïre is pictured by Höldobler & Wilson (1990, page 92).

Presumably from work in Ivory Coast, reported to feed on earthworms by Lévieux (1982), and to nest in rotten wood on the ground (Bolton, 1975b).

Bolton & Brown (2002) reported findings from Cameroun, Ottotomo Forest and Abong Mbang, by A. Dejean; Burundi, by A. Dejean.