Nylanderia mendica

Identification
Worker diagnosis: Overall color dark brown; mesosoma laterally striated; mesonotum rugulose; gaster dorsally and ventrally striated.

Compare with: N. brevisetula

The striated pronotum and gaster make this species fairly easy to identify. The only species with which it could be confused is N. brevisetula, but the short notal setae of that species make it fairly easy to distinguish between N. mendica and N. brevisetula. As both N. mendica and N. brevisetula have striations on the gaster (although they are faint and found only on the dorsum in N. brevisetula) and similar looking heads, they may be sister species. Unfortunately, males are currently unknown for both species.

Distribution
This taxon was described from Equatorial Guinea (Bioko Is). It is widespread throughout West Africa.

Nomenclature

 *  mendica. Paratrechina (Nylanderia) mendica Menozzi, 1942: 179, fig. 3 (w.q.) EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Bioko I.). [Also given as new in Eidmann, 1944: 461.] Combination in Nylanderia: LaPolla, Brady & Shattuck, 2010a: 127. See also: LaPolla, Hawkes & Fisher, 2011: 21.

Additional References

 * LaPolla, J.S., Hawkes, P.G. & Fisher, B.L. (2011) Monograph of Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the World, Part I: Nylanderia in the Afrotropics. Zootaxa 3110: 10–36.