Dorylus (Anomma) kohli Wasmann

Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269 : 44

Dorylus (Anomma) kohli Wasmann

Twenty workers from Akenge and Niangara, taken from the stomachs of toads (Bufo funereus) and frogs (Kassina senegalensis and Hemisus marmoratum), and a fine series of workers of all sizes from Avakubi (Lang and Chapin) with the following note: "They usually appear in great masses, coming right out of the ground, underneath a piece of meat. Even palm oil, poured on the floor, will attract them in the same way." This observation shows that the species is hypogaeic like the species of Dorylus , sensu stricto, and not epigaeic like Dorylus (Anomma) nigricans and its various subspecies and varieties, and agrees with the observations 'of Father Kohl, quoted by Wasmann: "This species seems to be intermediate between the subterranean Dorylus , sensu stricto, and the driver ants. Its discoverer, Father Kohl, who found it at St. Gabriel near Stanleyville on the Upper Congo, writes as follows: 'The ants just mentioned seem always to wander about beneath the surface of the ground; at any rate, I have seen them on the surface only on three occasions and always after a rain." Wasmann adds the interesting statement: "The subterranean mode of life of D. kohli may also be inferred from its guests, which are much less like those of Anomma than of Dorylus helvolus L. The development of the eyes of Pygostenus pusillus Wasm., which lives with D. kohli , is about half way between the small eyes of P. raffrayi Wasm., a guest of D. helvolus L. , and the very large eyes of the Pygostenus species which live with Anomma wilwerthi Emery . Here, too, there is a hint in regard to the habits of the host." The remarkable wingless phorid Hexacantherophora cohabitans, recently described by H. Schmitz,1 was also found with Dorylus kohli by Father Kohl at St. Gabriel near Stanleyville.