Strumigenys mesahyla

Identification
A member of the arnoldi complex in the Strumigenys arnoldi-group.

Bolton (1983) - The closest relative of mesahyla is Strumigenys traegaordhi, known only from South Africa. The two species can be separated as follows:

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Zimbabwe.

Nomenclature

 *  mesahyla. Strumigenys mesahyla Bolton, 1983: 379, fig. 69 (w.) ZIMBABWE. See also: Bolton, 2000: 594.

Worker
Holotype. TL 2.0, HL 0.57, HW 0.41, CI 75, ML 0.25, MI 43, SL 0.32, SI 75, PW 0.26, AL 0.58.

Apical fork of each mandible with 2 teeth, without intercalary teeth or denticles. Preapical armament of 2 teeth on each blade, the proximal longer than the distal and both teeth situated in the apical quarter to third of the length of the blade. Upper scrobe margins bordered by a narrow rim or flange which is broadest behind the frontal lobes and slowly peters out posteriorly; the eyes not visible in full-face view. Eyes very small, with only 4 ommatidia, the maximum diameter of the eye less than the maximum width of the scape. Preocular notch absent, the ventral surface of the head lacking a preocular transverse groove or impression. Scapes relatively slender, only moderately broadened in the median third and evenly shallowly curved in the basal third. Leading edges of scapes with an apically curved row of shallowly spoon-shaped hairs. Ground-pilosity of cephalic dorsum everywhere of broad flattened to spoon-shaped hairs which are curved anteriorly and which appear scale-like in full-face view. These hairs approximately the same size everywhere on the dorsum, not becoming much smaller on the posterior half. Hairs fringing the upper scrobe margins the same shape and size as those on the dorsum. Four stout standing hairs which are thickened apically are present in a transverse row close to the occipital margin; there is no pair of standing hairs situated anterior to this row. Dorsum of head reticulate-punctate. Pronotal humeri each with a single long flagellate hair, the mesonotum with a single pair of stout standing hairs. Ground-pilosity of alitrunk of sparse scale-like hairs which are similar to those on the head but smaller. Metanotal groove represented by a faint line across the dorsum, the mesonotum sharply depressed behind the level of the pair of hairs. Propodeal teeth narrowly triangular and acute apically, confluent in their- basal halves with the shallowly convex broad infradental lamellae. Sides of alitrunk mostly smooth, with vestigial traces of rugular sculpture anteriorly on the pronotum and with scattered peripheral patches of punctures on the pleurae and propodeum. Pronotal dorsum longitudinally rugulose, the remainder of the dorsal alitrunk punctate. Petiole node punctate dorsally, the postpetiole smooth and shining. Spongiform appendages of pedicel segments well developed. In profile the petiole with a broad ventral strip which projects into a lobe below the spiracle, and with a lateral lobe on the node. Postpetiole with large lateral and ventral spongiform lobes, the latter much larger than the exposed area of the postpetiolar disc in profile. Basigastral costulae sparse but quite sharply defined, arising on each side of a broad central clear area. Petiole, postpetiole and gaster with stout standing hairs which are thickened apically. Colour yellow.

Paratype. TL 2.1, HL 0.52, HW 0.41, CI 79, ML 0.22, MI 42, SL 0.30, SI 73, PW 0.24, AL 0.54.

As holotype but the infradental lamella of the propodeum not as evenly convex as indicated in Fig. 69 and the ventral spongiform lobe of the petiole more broadly triangular and only narrowly spongiform in front of the lobe.

Type Material
Holotype worker, Zimbabwe: Bulawayo, Hillside, 8.ii.1914, in nest of Solenopsis sp. (G. Arnold). Paratype. 1 worker, Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls, spray forest, iii. 1969 (W. L. Brown).