Phrynoponera bequaerti, Wheeler, W. M., 1922

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 : 79-80

Phrynoponera bequaerti , new species

Text Figure 12 Female (dealated).- Length 6 mm.

Resembling gabonensis and heterodus but much smaller. Head, excluding the mandibles, fully as broad as long, the posterior border nearly straight; the sides very feebly and evenly convex; the eyes large, moderately convex, with their posterior orbits at the middle of the sides. Mandibles shaped as in gabonensis , with obliquely, bluntly 4-toothed apical borders. Clypeus short, with broadly rounded, entire anterior border, the elevated central portion somewhat concave behind in the middle, with a ridge on each side. Antennae short and thick, the scapes scarely extending beyond the posterior border of the head; first funicular joint nearly as long as broad, remaining joints, except the last, decidedly broader than long. Thorax as broad as the head, short, shaped much as in gabonensis but the epinotal teeth are proportionally longer, being longer than broad at heir bases and as long as the distance between the latter, flattened dorsoventrally, with round lobe-like tips. Petiole with longer spines than in gabonensis , the lateral spines being as long as the remainder of the segment and the median spine as long us the lateral.

Mandibles smooth and shining with very coarse, sparse punctures, most numerous near the inner border. Remainder of body subopaque except the borders of the frontal carina; which are smooth and shining. Head reticulate-rugose, rather coarsely on the sides, on the front and vertex more finely, the rugae scarcely longitudinal. Thorax covered with coarse umbilicate foveolae, which are largest on the mesonotum but everywhere so close together that the surface may be described as reticulaterugose. Anterior surface of petiole with similar sculpture, but the meshes of the reticulum elongate. Postpetiole and gaster appearing longitudinally striate owing to their having a sculpture like that of P. heterodus and several of the varieties of gabonensis . Legs and antennal scapes nearly opaque, closely coriaceous.

Pilosity and pubescence much as in gabonensis and heterodus but the former more reclinate on the head, thorax, and abdomen.

Black; mandibles, frontal carinae, and legs dark brown.

Described from a single specimen taken from the stomach of a toad (Bufo superciliaris) front Ngayu (Lang and Chapin) This is a very distinct species, easily characterized by its small size, edentate clypeus, long median petiolar spine and peculiar cephalic and thoracic sculpture.