Strumigenys fanano Fisher, 2000

Bolton, B., 2000, The ant tribe Dacetini. With a revision of the Strumigenys species of the Malgasy Region by Brian L. Fisher, and a revision of the Austral epopostrumiform genera by Steven O. Shattuck., Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65, pp. 1-1028 : 653-654

Strumigenys fanano Fisher sp. n. (Fig. 392)

HOLOTYPE WORKER. TL 3.0, HL 0.70, HW 0.59, CI 84, ML 0.40, MI 57, SL 0.48, SI 81, PW 0.35, AL 0.71. Characters of (fora-complex. Mandibles almost straight and at full closure parallel. Apical fork of mandible with 2 spiniform teeth, without intercalary teeth or denticles. Mandible with 2 preapical teeth or denticles, situated in the apical third of the length; proximal preapical tooth long and spiniform, distal tooth a denticle. Upper scrobe margin ends, or at least becomes extremely indistinct, at about the level of the eye. Eye large, convex, and plainly visible in full-face view. Scape slender and subcylindrical, curved near base, the leading edge with a row of hairs which are slightly flattened or spoon-shaped apically. Cephalic dorsum with appressed remiform to narrowly clavate ground-pilosity; the upper scrobe margin fringed with a row of hairs which are the same shape and size as those on the dorsum. Cephalic dorsum with 4 simple standing hairs arranged in a transverse row close to the occipital margin. Dorsum of head reticulatepunctate. Pronotal humeri rounded, the humeral hair stiffly projecting. Anterior margin of mesonotum with a pair of stout filiform hairs. Ground-pilosity on alitrunk as on head but sparser. Dorsum of alitrunk in outline convex anteriorly and more or less flat posteriorly; the metanotal groove represented by a shallow impression. Anterior mesonotum without a carina above the mesothoracic spiracle. Propodeal spines narrowly triangular and almost spiniform; propodeal lamella absent. Alitrunk dorsum and sides reticulate-punctate. Petiole node in dorsal view reticulate-punctate and slightly broader than long. Postpetiole disc reticulate-punctate. Spongiform appendages of petiole and postpetiole extremely reduced to absent, spongiform collar present on disc of postpetiole. First gastral tergite and sternite densely punctate over anterior half or more of the sclerites; basigastral costulae absent. Dorsum of petiole with one pair of posterior projecting hairs. Dorsal surfaces of postpetiole and gaster with stout standing hairs which are weakly swollen apically. Colour orange brown.

PARATYPE WORKERS. TL 3.1, HL 0.71, HW 0.55, CI 78, ML 0.39, MI 56, SL 0.48, SI 86, PW 0.34, AL 0.69 (1 measured). As holotype.

Holotype worker, Madagascar: Res. Ankarana, 7 km. SE Matsaborimanga, 12 ° 54 ' S, 49 ° 07 ' E, 150 m., 28. xi. 1990, sifted litter (leaf mold rotten wood), montane rainforest # 11010 - 8 (P. S. Vfard) (MCZ). Paratypes. 1 worker with same data as holotype (BMNH).

Among the grandidieri-group species with a 2 - dentate apical fork, fanano is the only one that has the first gastral tergite and sternite densely punctate over the anterior halves or more of the sclerites, coupled with a single posterior projecting pair of hairs on the petiole dorsum. Its orange brown colour and the reticulate-punctate sculpture of the sides of the alitrunk also help identify this species.