Axinidris occidentalis

Axinidris occidentalis was collected from an unidentified ant-plant, a habit shared with other Axinidris.

Identification
Snelling (2007) - Scape and pronotum without erect hairs; pronotum weakly shiny, sharply sculptured and densely pubescent; medial carina present; T3-T4 each with several erect hairs.

In A. occidentalis the pronotum lacks erect hairs, but they are present on gastral terga 3 and 4, and the distance across the propodeal spines is subequal to the propodeal width, a combination of features unique to this western species.

Shattuck (1991) - A. occidentalis can be separated from other species by the combination of no erect hairs on the pronotum, the propodeal spine width subequal to the propodeal width, and the presence of erect hairs on the gaster.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Liberia.

Castes
Known only from the worker caste.

Nomenclature

 * . Axinidris occidentalis Shattuck, 1991: 118, figs. 26-28, 35 (w.) LIBERIA.
 * Status as species: Shattuck, 1994: 10; Bolton, 1995b: 77; Snelling, R.R. 2007: 569.

Worker
(n=4). OOD 0.31-0.35, EL 0.21-0.23, HL 0.88-0.95, EW 0.10-0.13, HW 0.88-0.96, CNW 0.05, CND 0.07-0.08, SL 0.57-0.65, AL 1.02-1.10, PpW 0.34-0.41, SW 0.36-0.41, CI 0.99-1.01, CNI 1.33-1.53, REL 0.23-0.25, ScI 0.64-0.69, SpI 1.37-1.57.

Pronotal hairs absent; body yellowish red, the tarsi light yellow; HW >0.85; SL <0.66.

Head sculpture similar to Apalligastrion. Head with two pairs of short erect hairs (one pair near the vertex, one pair on the frontal lobes), and one pair of long hairs on the clypeus. Erect and suberect hairs absent from the antennal scapes. Entire alitrunk weakly punctate to weakly imbricate. Pronotum lacking erect hairs. Propodeal spiracles as in A.tridens. Medial propodeal carina expanded slightly near the propodeal angle and located just anterior of a line drawn between the propodeal spiracles posterior to a line drawn between the propodeal spines. Propodeal spines directed posterolaterally with the outer surfaces concave, the distal ends approximately the same width as the maximum propodeal width, and the area between them concave. Erect hairs present on gastric tergites 3 and 4. Body colour yellowish red with the gaster, clypeus, mandibles and antenna lighter, and the tarsi yellow.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Shattuck S. O. 1991. Revision of the dolichoderine ant genus Axinidris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 16: 105-120.
 * Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.