W. L. Brown.
The Relationship of Two African Tetramorium Species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
Psyche 63(2):75, 1956.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1956/93675
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-19561 Brown - African Tetramorium 75
THE RELATIONSHIP OF TWO AFRICAN Tetramorium SPECIES (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) .-During 1955, Mr. Thomas Gregg, a student at Harvard University, made for me a small but select collection of ants in the vicinity of Epulu, Ituri Forest, in the Belgian Congo. The ants have been deposited in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Har- vard. Among the series were two nest samples of Tetra- rnorium, of which the workers were a striking yellow in color, but with the alitrunk and petiole a contrasting blackish or piceous hue.
It was found that both series agreed in general with the description of T. coloreum Mayr (1901, Ent. Tidskr., 21 : 273, worker ; type loc. : Mungo R., Kamerun), while one of them corresponded more particularly to that of T. coloreum var. postpetiolata Santschi (1919, Rev. Zool. Afr., 7: 88, worker; type loc. : Penghe, Belgian Congo). The two series, while very similar at first glance, are distinguished by a number of characters. As noted by Santschi, postpetiolata has the postpetiole markedly broader than long and with a smooth and shining surface (in coloreum, not or just barely broader than long and with irregular longitudinal costulae or striae on the disc, ex- tending onto the base of the gaster). Santschi also mentioned that the posterodorsal petiolar face is more rugose (and opaque) in postpetiolata. In addition, in my postpetiolata specimens, the petiolar node is distinctly thicker from front to rear, the alitrunk is narrower, lower and less suddenly constricted behind, and the propodeal and triangular metapleural teeth are both distinctly shorter than in coloreum. Also, in postpetiolata, the erect hairs are slightly longer, more abundant (particularly on pe- tiole), more slender and have more tapered apices. Since Santschi's chief distinctions appear to be main- tained, and even supplemented, in the present sympatric samples, I am suggesting that Tetramorium postpetiolatum be granted new status as a species.
Mr. Gregg took the T. coloreum nest at Epulu from the upper side of a log covered with earth in the rain forest. The T. postpetiolatum series was taken in this vicinity, also in rain forest, in the soil beneath leaf litter. W. L. BROWN, JR., Museum of Comparative Zoology.



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