Cataulacus guineensis

At the risk of unintentionally starting a theme that could potentially be very restricting and uninteresting, I think I'm going to continue to post 'ant portraits'. Someone might actually find them useful.

This one is Cataulacus guineensis. It was collected Abuko National Park, one of the more famous protected areas in The Gambia. Abuko is a remnant of gallery forest, rather than rainforest. Despite its small size and the fact that we hired a guide (which for me meant that I didn't really have enough time to stop and collect ants), I still managed to pick up some species of interest.

Three of these, C. guineensis, Cataulacus traegaordhi and Pyramica maynei are proper forest species, so finding them in one of the few remaining pieces of proper forest in The Gambia was quite satisfying.

C. guineensis has been found in the Republic of Guinea, as might be expected from its name, and throughout west Africa, but not from Senegal or further north, so this find from The Gambia may represent the northern limits of its known range.