Pyramica (Serrastruma) lujae (Forel)

Type location Mozambique (Strumigenys Lujae n. sp., Forel, 1902e: 294, illustrated, worker; footnote in Wasmann, 1902) collected at Morumballa, on the Zambezi River, by E. Luja - see below
junior synonyms
aequalis (Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) aequalis n. sp., Menozzi, 1942: 177, worker & queen) from Fernando Po I. - no images on Antweb (February 2015)
calypso (Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) calypso n. sp., Santschi, 1923e: 288, illustrated, worker) from Tanzania, Ouha, Meyer - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912837
gerardi (Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) Gerardi n. sp., Santschi, 1923e: 287, worker) from Zaďre, Mongende, Dr Schouteden - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912838
glanduscula (Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) glanduscula n. var., Santschi, 1919h: 88, worker) from Zaďre, Yambuya,  J. Bequaert - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912839
reticulata (Strumigenys reticulata n. sp., Stitz, 1910: 141, worker) from Cameroun, Bibundi, Tessman - no images on Antweb (February 2015)
(see Bolton, 1995) .

Forel's (1902e) description is at . Stitz's (1910) description of reticulata is at . Santschi's (1919h) description of glanduscula is at . Santschi's (1923e) description of calypso is at . Santschi's (1923e) description of gerardi is at . Menozzi's (1942) description of aequalis is at . Bolton's modern description (1983) is at .

WORKER - TL 2.2-3.3 mm; characters as in key; note variable size; colour yellow to medium-brown (Bolton, 1983, illustrated, alitrunk and pedicel profile).

A mainly forest species found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with many records (Bolton, 1983).

Specimens in the CRIN collection were labelled as from CRI, Ghana, although Bolton (1983) noted that he collected it in Nigeria, at CRIN.

From Ghana, at CRIG (C.A. Collingwood; B. Bolton), Aburi and Mamfe Scarp (D. Leston), and Bolgatanga (E.S. Ross & K. Lorenzen) (Bolton, 1983). Found on cocoa at Kade by Majer (1975); from cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1975). Since collected from leaf litter (802 workers) in the semi-deciduous forest zone, under cocoa at Juaso, primary forest at Esukawkaw Forest Reserve and Atewa Forest Reserve, by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).

From Ivory Coast in Banco Forest (I. Löbl; W.L. Brown), at Man (I. Löbl; V. Mahnert & J.-L. Perret), at Yapo Forest, Agboville (I. Löbl), Anguédédou Forest (W.L. Brown) and Sangrobo (W.L. & D.E. Brown).

Cameroun records include Batanga (G. Schwab), Mt. Cameroun (L. Fea, perhaps in 1901; B. Malkin), Nko'emvon (D.A. Jackson) and near Yaoundé (G. Terron).

Bernard (1952) recorded a Guinea, finding of a single worker (as Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) glanduscula) from Mt. Nimba, Nion, 700 m; "different from the type (Belgian Congo) by being shorter and with the spines twice as long". He separated it from a specimen of bequaerti (see above).

Nests in dead wood on living trees, foraging there and in leaf litter. Bolton (1983) relates a letter from W.L. Brown, in which the habit of preying on collembolans was vividly described, no other insects were seen as prey. Déjean & Benhamou (1993) described how the workers search individually for collembolans in the leaf litter of humid tropical forests. The core of their paper was a laboratory study of the orientation and foraging movements in a patchy environment, similar to that found in the dry season in the forests, when collembolans congregate in wet patches of leaf litter.

The photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0178312.

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0178312. From Kenya, shown in Antweb list as Pyramica lujae.