Technomyrmex lasiops

T. lasiops  inhabits leaf litter and rotten wood on the forest floor.

Identification
Bolton (2007) - A member of the Technomyrmex pratensis group. Among the Afrotropical fauna it is a very distinctive species because of its reduced PF, stocky build, short scapes, deeply notched clypeus, small eyes, characteristic arrangement of setae on the dorsum of the head and feeble sculpture.

The closest relative of lasiops  is certainly the Oriental and Malesian Technomyrmex pratensis, which it resembles and with which it shares a palp formula of 5,3. However, the latter species tends to be larger, has more posteriorly located eyes, and always has more setae on the dorsum of the head.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Cameroun, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Uganda.

Nomenclature

 *  lasiops. Technomyrmex lasiops Bolton, 2007a: 24, figs. 7, 30 (w.q.m.) CAMEROUN.

There is a series of 7 queens, with label data that matches T. lasiops workers collected from Doussala, in CASC. These may originally have been associated with the workers but had been split from them and stored separately. At first glance they appear very different from the workers, which is odd in this genus as most queens resemble their workers. The queens are a uniform very dark brown except for their middle and hind coxae, which are a strongly contrasting off-white to yellowish, and their middle and hind tibiae and tarsi, which are similarly more lightly coloured. They apparently also naturally lack setae on the first gastral tergite. Not a single seta or pit is present on this sclerite In any specimen, in contrast to the workers where they are conspicuous. However, long setae that are the same as those in the workers are obvious on gastral tergites 2 - 4. Despite these striking differences I suspect that the queens are correctly associated with the lasiops  workers because they share the palp formula of 5,3, the characteristic arrangement of long setae on the dorsal head, and the clypeal notch is similar but somewhat smaller. In CASC there is also a single male, again from the same locality, which has PF 5,3 and is most probably conspecific with the queens and workers from -that locality.

Worker
Holotype. TL 2.6, HL 0.68, HW 0.62, SL 0.53, PW 0.42, WL 0.72. Indices: CI 91, SI 85, OI 23, EPI 77, DTI 105.

Palp formula 5,3. Dorsum of head behind clypeus with 4 pairs of setae: in profile the first above the toruli; second about at the level of the anterior margin of the eye; third about at the level of the posterior margin of the eye; fourth at the posterior margin of the head. Setal pairs 2 - 4 as long as, or slightly longer than, the maximum diameter of the eye. Anterior clypeal margin with a sharply incised V-shaped median notch that is about as long as broad; inner margin of notch meets anterior clypeal margin in a sharp angle on each side. In full-face view posterior margin of the head slightly indented medially; sides of head convex and convergent anteriorly. Eye relatively small (OI range 21 - 24); outer margins of eyes distinctly fail to break the outline of the sides of the head. Scape relatively short (SI range 83 - 88), with elevated pubescence but lacks setae. Funicular segments 3 - 4 broader than long. Head capsule weakly and only superficially sculptured, without blanketing dense shagreenate or microreticulate sculpture. Mesosoma stocky, short and compact (DTI range 100 - 105). Metanotal groove narrow and shallowly impressed. Propodeal dorsum in profile very short, the declivity a long, more or less flat surface that slopes down to the spiracle. Number of setal pairs on mesosoma: pronotum 1 - 2 (abraded away in holotype but well attested in other material); mesonotum 2 - 3; short propodeal dorsum 0; lateral margin of propodeal declivity 1, just above the spiracle. Gastral tergites 1 - 4 each with setae that are longer than the maximum diameter of the eye. Femora and tibiae with elevated pubescence but without setae. Colour yellowish brown, the gaster slightly darker than the mesosoma. First gastral tergite finely and sparsely superficially sculptured, dully shining, without dense blanketing sculpture.

Paratypic and other workers. TL 2.3 - 2.7, HL 0.54 - 0.68, HW 0.48 - 0.62, SL 0.42 - 0.54, PW 0.34 - 0.43, WL 0.58 - 0.74 (15 measured). Indices: CI 87 - 91, SI 83 - 88, OI 21 - 24, EPI 71 - 77, DTI 100 - 110. As holotype out colour varies from dull yellow to light brown; the gaster is usually slightly darker in shade than the mesosoma.

Type Material
Holotype worker (upper specimen of two on pin), Cameroun: Ottotomo, 2.iv.1989 (A. Dejean). Paratype. 1 worker with same data (lower specimen of two on pin) (BMNH).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Yeo K., T. Delsinne, S. Komate, L. L. Alonso, D. Aidara, and C. Peeters. 2016. Diversity and distribution of ant assemblages above and below ground in a West African forest–savannah mosaic (Lamto, Cote d’Ivoire). Insectes Sociaux DOI 10.1007/s00040-016-0527-6