Cyphoidris werneri, Bolton, B., 1981

Bolton, B., 1981, A revision of six minor genera of Myrmicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Ethiopian zoogeographical region., Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 43, pp. 245-307 : 259

Cyphoidris werneri sp. n.

Holotype worker. TL 3.7, HL 0.91, HW 0.83, CI 91, SL 0.62, SI 75, PW 0.63, AL 1.08.

Mandibles smooth and shining with scattered small pits, the apical margin armed with 10 - 11 small denticles. Anterior margin of clypeus conspicuously impressed medially. Narrow median portion of clypeus bicarinate above. Frontal carinae strongly developed and forming the dorsal margins of the broad but shallow antennal scrobes, the carinae diverging posteriorly and fading out well before reaching the occipital margin. Separation of the frontal carinae at the level of the midlengths of the eyes c. 0.37, about 0.45 x HW. Eyes longer than wide, their maximum diameter 0.17, about 0.20 x HW. Alitrunk with promesonotum swollen but not more or less evenly convex in profile as is usual in the genus. Instead there is a long plateau-like dorsum which is much less strongly convex than the ascending face of the pronotum in front or the descending face of the mesonotum behind. Propodeal dorsum in profile continuing the downward slope of the mesonotum, the surfaces not separable. Propodeal spines with their extreme apical portions upcurved. Metapleural lobes low and broadly triangular. Alitrunk in dorsal view broadest across the pronotal shoulders, evenly narrowing posteriorly. Petiole node low and quite small in profile, its dorsal surface sloping downwards posteriorly and the anterodorsal angle better defined than the posterodorsal which tends to round into the posterior face. In dorsal view nodes of both petiole and postpetiole conspicuously broader than long and the latter much broader than the former. Dorsum of head predominantly longitudinally rugose, the rugae irregular and with cross-meshes developing behind the level of the eyes. Cross-meshes increase in density posteriorly and a rugoreticulum is present occipitally. Sides of head below the scrobes finely reticulate-rugose, the scrobes themselves much less strongly sculptured than the rest of the head, being mostly smooth with a few feeble transverse rugulae. Entire dorsum of alitrunk very densely strongly and closely reticulate-rugulose, the reticular meshes small and the rugulae raised so that in places the surface appears reticulate-foveolate. Dorsal surfaces of rugulae with a beaded appearance due to presence of aligned minute punctures; the entire surface blanketed with sculpture, without smooth areas. Sides of alitrunk similarly but more loosely sculptured, the pleurae and sides of propodeum with smooth areas between the more widely separated rugulae. Propodeal declivity smooth, with vestiges of transverse rugulae between the spines. Nodes of petiole and postpetiole both dorsally and laterally sculptured as dorsal alitrunk. First gastral tergite unsculptured except for fairly conspicuous pits from which hairs arise. All dorsal surfaces of head and body densely clothed with short fine curved hairs which are subdecumbent to decumbent. Long hairs absent except on clypeus and a row on the upper surface of each frontal carina. Colour blackish brown with a dull reddish tint, the latter most apparent on the sides of the alitrunk. Antennae and legs dull orange-yellow.

Paratype workers. TL 3.5 - 3.8, HL 0.84 - 0.92, HW 0.76 - 0.84, CI 90.93, SL 0.60 - 0.66, SI 74 - 79, PW 0.58 - 0.64, AL 0.98 - 1.08 (14 measured). As holotype but maximum diameter of eye 0.15 - 0.17, about 0.18 - 0.20 x HW.

Holotype worker, Rwanda: Rangiro, ix. 1976, litter (P. Werner) (MHN, Geneva).

Paratypes. 14 workers with same data as holotype (MHN, Geneva; BMNH; MCZ, Cambridge).

C. werneri is the only known species of this genus from East Africa. It is easily distinguished from its congeners in West and Central Africa by its strong blanketing alitrunkal sculpture and by the fact that the propodeal dorsum continues the steep slope of the posterior part of the mesonotum. Apart from these features werneri lacks the gastral shagreening typical of parissa , is much more densely hairy than exalta , and has shorter scapes and generally much coarser sculpture than spinosa .