Bajcaridris

Agosti (1994) - Bajcaridris includes the three species Bajcaridris kraussii, Bajcaridris menozzii and Bajcaridris theryi. With the exception of theryi, which has recently been rediscovered (Espadaler & Cagniant, 1987), all the three species have rarely been collected since they were described (kraussii: Forel, 1895, 1902, Emery, 1899; menozzii: Santschi, 1923; theryi: Santschi, 1936). Their habitats are either in the oueds of the northern Sahara in Algeria (kraussii and menozzii) or in the meadows of the mountains of the Atlas in Morocco, where they are among the dominant ant species, building nests in the earth either below stones or with a distinct crater-shaped nest entrance (Espadaler & Cagniant, 1987).

Identification
Agosti (1994) - The workers differ by the combination of the following three characters from all the other ants of the tribe: dentition of the mandible with a small third tooth, clavate hairs and the first funicular segment which is longer than the two subsequent. The males are unique in the following combination of characters: the same size as the workers, a compressed head with distinct, large ocelli forming a socket, a unique subgenital plate with an unpaired median, caudal process, and a long pointed sagitta.

Species richness
Species richness by country based on regional taxon lists (countries with darker colours are more species-rich). View Data



Nomenclature

 *  BAJCARIDRIS [Formicinae: Formicini]
 * Bajcaridris Agosti, 1994a: 99. Type-species: Formica (Proformica) theryi, by original designation.
 * [Bajcaridris Agosti, 1991: 295. Nomen nudum.]

Agosti (1994):

Worker
Formicini ants with the following combination of characters:

1 Small (TL <1.4mm), shining ants.

2 Mandible with 5 teeth, declining in size from apical to basal with the exception of the third tooth, which is distinctly smaller than the subsequent and the precedent.

3 First funiculus segment longer than the two subsequent together.

4 Frontal carina reduced to a bulge.

5 Propodeal spiracle minute, ellipsoid.

Queen
Inferred ergatogyne, because X. Espadaler and H. Cagniant did not find a queen in nests they dug out (Espadaler & Cagniant, 1987).

Male
Formicini ants with the following modifications: 6 Small males, of the same size as workers (TL < 1.4 mm), shining.

7 Head compressed with a turban-like ocellar socket.

8 Mandible short, subparallel.

9 Terminal branches of the wing venation reduced.

10 Subgenital plate with a median apical, truncated appendix with two apical claws.

11 Stipes without median appendices.

12 Volsella rotated about 90° caudally; digitus horizontal, the tip of the cuspis in situ as long as the stipes, dorsoventrally oriented.

13 Sagitta with a ventrally elongated apex, in situ as long as stipes; ventral side with few distinct teeth, the lateral plate of the two-folded sagitta protruding almost as far as the median plate with the teeth.

14 Few scattered long, erect hairs all over the body.

15 Dense pilosity on the dorsal surface of the wings.