Tetramorium muralti Forel
  Type location Cameroun (Tetramorium
(Xiphomyrmex)
Muralti, n.sp., Forel, 1910e: 429, worker; Santschi, 1914d: 368,
queen,
from Aburi, Ghana), no location, collected by L. von Muralt
junior
synonym trilineata from Ghana (Xiphomyrmex Muralti For. var. trilineata n. var., Santschi,
1919h: 88,
worker & queen) collected at Aburi by F. Silvestri - queen see below
worker &
queen described (see Bolton, 1995)  .
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Forel's (1910e) description is at  . Santschi's (1914d) description is at  . Santschi's (1919h) description of trilineata
is at  . Bolton's modern description (1980) is at  .
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WORKER - TL 2.77 mm; specimens from Ghana cocoa
but not drawn (in my guide as Xiphomyrmex species A). Bolton
(1980: 229, not illustrated) has TL 2.1-2.3.
Brown, shiny and unsculptured. Head with distinct antennal scrobes;
also medial dorsal longitudinal carinae which run the full length of
the head plus two shorter carinae, one on each side, which are between
the medial and frontal carinae. The pedicel segments are thick scales.
I could not definitely match these specimens with any in
Bolton (1980, not illustrated) but two workers were collected from the
ground at CRIG by Bigger (1981a). Bolton (1980) had it as a
forest-inhabiting species which nests in rotten wood in the
leaf-litter, with findings from Ghana, at Mampong (P.M. Room)
and Kukurantumi (C.A. Collingwood). Since described as widespread (189
workers from 10 sites) in leaf litter by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).
An Ivory Coast finding, at Banco Forest (W.L.
Brown) and Divo (C.A. Collingwood); also known from Zaïre
(Wheeler, 1922). Bernard (1952) listed four workers (as X. muralti)
from Guinea at Nimba North-East, forest (Villiers).
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 The
photomontage of the type worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0909184.
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Oxford University Museum
specimens
Tetramorium muralti
B Taylor det.
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Congo
Y Braet
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Brazzaville area –
ca.
4°15'33" S
15°17'5" E
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Hand collection
Worker and queens
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4
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Tetramorium muralti
B Taylor det. |
Central African
Republic
P Annoyer
Camp 2
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20-24.x.2008
Dzanga-Sangha
03°01'49.5" N
16°08'31.7" E
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567 m; Polytrap at
44m dans l'arbre
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1
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 The photomontage is
of
a worker from Congo, Brazzaville area, ca 4°15'33" S 15°17'5"
E; hand collector Yves Braet.
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Queen
 The
photomontage of the trilineata type queen is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0915033.
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 The
photomontage is of
an alate queen from Congo, Brazzaville area, ca 4°15'33" S
15°17'5"
E; collector Yves Braet.
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 The
photomontage is of
a dealate queen from Congo, Brazzaville area, ca 4°15'33" S
15°17'5"
E; collector Yves Braet.
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 The photomontage is
of a queen from the Central
African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha National Park;
collector
Philippe Annoyer (CAR Camp 2).
This is a good match for the Santschi (1914d) description, including
the large postpetiole, equal in size to the petiole.
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