Asphinctopone Santschi

Bolton, Barry & Fisher, Brian L., 2008, The Afrotropical ponerine ant genus Asphinctopone Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1827, pp. 53-61 : 54-55

Asphinctopone Santschi

Asphinctopone Santschi, 1914: 318 . Type-species: Asphinctopone silvestrii Santschi, 1914: 318 , by monotypy. Lepidopone Bernard, 1953: 207 . Type-species: Lepidopone lamottei Bernard, 1953: 208 , by monotypy. [Synonymy with Asphinctopone by Brown, 1953: 2.]

Diagnosis of worker and queen (gyne)

1 Mandible with 5 teeth; sometimes with an additional denticle between teeth 4 and 5.

2 Mandible oblique, not triangular; without a basal pit; with a weakly developed basal groove.

3 Masticatory margin of mandible somewhat oblique so that there is a gap between the mandibles basally when they are closed.

4 Basalmost tooth is at the rounded basal angle; basal margin shallowly convex; near the articulation the inner margin with a small tooth-like process (overlapped by anterolateral angles of clypeal lobe when mandibles closed).

5 Palp formula 3,3; second maxillary palpomere elongate and slender.

6 Clypeus complex: in full-face view the median portion projects anteriorly as a broad lobe which terminates in a distinct angle on each side; these angles overlap the basal margins of the mandibles; the anterior clypeal margin has a small median rounded projection, on each side of which the anterior margin is shallowly concave; above the median projection the central portion of the clypeus forms a narrow ridge to the frontal lobes.

7 Frontal lobes small, closely approximated, with only a linear median impression between them; in fullface view anterior margins of frontal lobes are behind anterior margin of clypeus.

8 Antenna with 12 segments, gradually incrassate apically and the terminal three segments form a weak club; apical antennomere hypertrophied, longer than the five preceding segments together.

9 Promesonotal suture deeply impressed, cross-ribbed on extreme anterior mesonotum; metanotal groove deeply impressed and cross-ribbed; mesonotum conspicuously isolated by these two impressions (worker only).

10 Mesopleuron with a transverse suture that divides it into anepisternum and katepisternum.

11 Metapleural gland orifice simple, posterolateral.

12 Propodeal spiracle very small, its sclerite almost circular but the orifice itself a small ellipse.

13 Propodeal lobes very reduced, rounded.

14 Mesosternal and metasternal processes present, the former narrowly bidentate, the latter narrowly bilobate and very long.

15 Mesotibiae and metatibiae each with a single pectinate spur.

16 Dorsal (outer) surfaces of middle and hind tibiae and basitarsi without cuticular spines or peg-like traction setae.

17 Pretarsal claws small and simple.

18 Petiole surmounted by a high, unarmed scale that is narrow in profile and broad in dorsal view.

19 Subpetiolar process complex: in profile with a short anterior prominence, a small submedian tooth and a posterior flange.

20 Sternite of petiole in posterior view complex (see discussion below).

21 Helcium with a narrow transverse crest of cuticle between the ventral apices of the tergal arch (see discussion below).

22 Prora present, long in profile, broad in anterior view with a thick outer annulus and a deep central concavity; prora in profile projects anteriorly to about the midlength of the helcium (see discussion below).

23 Gastral segment 2 (abdominal segment IV) without trace of differentiated presclerites on tergum or sternum.

24 Gastral tergite 2 (abdominal tergite IV) without a stridulitrum.

25 Queen (gyne) only: fractionally larger than the worker and with 3 ocelli present (absent in workers). Mesosoma with full complement of flight sclerites.