Crematogaster striatula

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Sierra Leone.

Biology
This species was observed in southern Cameroon tending extrafloral nectaries, sometimes in the presence of other co-occuring ant species.

Association with Other Organisms


Aléné et al. (2011) observed a very unusual behaviour between the psyllid Diaphorina enderleini and Pheidole megacephala and Crematogaster striatula. While female psyllids are laying eggs on the lower leaf surface, workers of P. megacephala quickly pile up detritus combined with soil around and partly above the psyllids, resulting in a shelter-like structure. Those of C. striatula build carton shelters. During this procedure the adult female psyllids hardly move away from their eggs and larvae. The psyllid larvae are arranged in tight rows along the leaf veins, especially the principal one, and sometimes at the base of very young branches. The larvae are mostly sedentary and only move, slowly and steadily, when disturbed. They do not produce wax, as can be expected from the almost complete lack of the circumanal ring. Females and larvae excrete large drops of honeydew, which are immediately recovered by ants. In Camponotus acvapimensis and Myrmicaria opaciventris the workers did not build any structure around the psyllids but they were observed taking honeydew from them.

Nomenclature

 *  striatula. Crematogaster striatulus Emery, 1892c: liii (w.) IVORY COAST. Emery, 1899e: 482 (q.); Delage-Darchen, 1978: 293 (l.). Combination in C. (Sphaerocrema): Santschi, 1918d: 182. Current subspecies: nominal plus benitensis, horatii, langi, obstinata, omega.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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 * Stitz H. 1910. Westafrikanische Ameisen. I. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 5: 125-151.
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