Anochetus faurei

Brown, WL Jr.,, 1978, Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. Part VI. Ponerinae, tribe Ponerini, subtribe Odontomachiti. Section B. Genus Anochetus and bibliography., Studia Entomologica 20, pp. 549-638 : 609

[35] A. faurei

remains known only from the type series from Nongoma, N Natal, South Africa. The collector was J. C. Faure, who customarily beat branches of trees and shrubs while searching for thrips, so it seems possible that faurei is at least partly an arboreal forager, like the somewhat similar members of the emarginatus group in the New World. It is not easy to decide whether the similarities are convergent ones, due mainly to evolution in similar niches, or are shared primitive traits retained from a distant common ancestor.

In Arnold’s description, no mention is made of the small denticles, 3-12 in number, often acute and oblique, that beset the inner margins of the mandibles in an irregular manner.

This is the largest of the African Anochetus species; it seems to have no really close relatives on that continent..