Tetramorium sericeiventre Emery subspecies continentis (Forel)

Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269 : 191

Tetramorium sericeiventre Emery subspecies continentis (Forel)

Plate XVII, Figure 2

Numerous workers from Zambi (Lang, Chapin, and Bequaert), found making small nests in sand (Pl. XVII, fig. 2). According to Mr. Lang's notes, "the craters were often very regular, perfectly circular and composed of the excavated particles of white sand. The colony photographed shows three entrances close together. The nest extended about 50 cm. below the surface to just above a moist layer of sand. The territory in which the ants nest is evidently inundated during the rainy season (at high water), but now (during the dry season) the water is about four feet below the surface. One colony was seen covering small areas about as large as the hand; the nest entrance was oblique, running under an overlapping thin layer of sand. The ants were working at noon in fairly bright sunshine. When disturbed, they all disappeared inside the nest. The craters consisted entirely of fine white sand-grains, without admixture of food particles."