Camponotus olivieri

Camponotus olivieri is a widespread species in Africa, ranging from South Africa north to Sudan and west to Ghana. However, it is made up of a great many subspecies that probably deserve species status, so the situation may be rather more complicated than it seems at first.

Two subspecies of C. olivieri were collected in The Gambia: lemma and delagoensis. They differ quite markedly in pubescence and also, to a lesser extent, morphology. What I think provides some evidence that they deserve separate status is that they were both found at one site.

C. olivieri subsp. lemma was found in two locations: Abuko National Park, Lamin and Bijilo Forest Park, Kololi. In both cases it was found only on the ground. It can be distinguished from other species of C. olivieri by the rust colour at the base of the antennal scapes and the gaster, which is uniformly shiny, sparsely pubescent but still more densely pubescent than the mesosoma and has erect hairs that are thicker than the pubescence.

C. olivieri subsp. delagoensis was found at Abuko National Park, on a tree. It is similar to subsp. lemma, but has denser, yellow pubescence, especially on the gaster.

Both ants have been recorded only rarely, possibly due to the fact that they are regarded as subspecies and so have been more frequently recorded at species level. C. olivieri subsp. lemma had been recorded in Angola, Tanzania and former Zaire. C. olivieri subsp. delagoensis was only known from the type location at Delagoa Bay in Mozambique. This makes these Gambian records an extension of the known range of the species and both subspecies, especially large in the case of subsp. delagoensis.

These have both been compared with the type specimens from the Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Genève and the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel. This allowed me to confirm C. olivieri subsp. delagoenisis.

The syntypes of C. olivieri subsp. lemma are rather variably hairy, so much so that I wondered if Forel had mounted specimens from different colonies on the same pins. The main difference between these and my specimens was that most of the types were much less hairy, though one was similar to mine. It could be that the specimens have lost some of their pilosity. Regardless, I feel I need to do some more work to confirm that there is nothing closer.

Plagiolepis mediorufa

Plagiolepis mediorufa had only been recorded from the Congo and the Central African Republic, generally from myrmecophilous plants. My Gambian specimens were collected from plants, trees and a palm frond in Bijilo Forest Park, Kololi and Abuko National Park, Lamin, but nothing about the plants indicated that they were adapted to supporting ants. The Gambia also represents a significant range extension north and westwards.

The trouble is that I suspect there may be a few, as yet undescribed, small yellow and morphologically similar species of Plagiolepis in Africa as a whole. I have placed my specimens in P. mediorufa because it is currently the best fit, but would be interested to see where they are placed if the genus is ever reviewed.

The specimen that I photographed was sadly rather battered. Plagiolepis often tend to be rather soft and fragile, and so shrivel when they dry. Tapinoma does the same thing. (I think the funiculus of the antenna was missing when I collected it.) It was still the best of the three specimens that I had mounted.

Nesomyrmex angulatus

Nesomyrmex angulatus is another widespread species, found from South Africa to Saudi Arabia. The closest it has previously been found to The Gambia is Ghana, so this represents another western range extension (along with Cataulacus traegaordhi). The key thing about this species that separates it from other Nesomyrmex is the very smooth profile of the mesosoma, coupled with the yellow colour.

Though I only found it twice, it's probably fairly common in more wooded parts of The Gambia. It tends to be pretty inconspicuous. I collected it from trees in Bijilo Forest Park and on Jinack Island, from coastal forest and scrub savannah respectively.