Review of the ant genus Nesomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in southern Africa

 

 

Nokuthula Mbanyana^I; Hamish G. Robertson^II

^INatural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa. E-mail: nmbanyana@iziko.org.za
^IINatural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa. E-mail: hrobertson@iziko.org.za

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Members of the genus Nesomyrmex in southern Africa are small, non-dominant, myrmicine ants that nest either in trees (angulatus-group) or in soil (simoni-group). Of the twenty species recorded from this region, the following 15 are newly described: ontoinetteoe, cederbergensis, entobeni, ezontsi, inye, karooensis, koebergensis, lorsenae, mcgregori, nanniae, njengelanga, ruani, soosveldensis, tshiguvhoae and vonnoorti. All Nesomyrmex species recorded from southern Africa are described and illustrated, with accompanying information on biology and distribution.

Keywords: Nesomyrmex, Leptothorox, ants, southern Africa, Nama-Karoo, Succulent Karoo, Fynbos.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank all the collectors who provided the specimens that form the basis of this paper, including Antoinette Botes, the members of the Iimbovane project (B. Braschler in particular) and Thidinalei Tshiguvho.

 

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Received 16 July 2008
Accepted 14 October 2008