Dorylus kohli Wasmann 1904

Schöning, Caspar, Gotwald, William H., Kronauer, Daniel J. C. & Vilhelmsen, Lars, 2008, Taxonomy of the African army ant Dorylus gribodoi Emery, 1892 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) — new insights from DNA sequence data and morphology, Zootaxa 1749, pp. 39-52 : 49-50

Dorylus kohli Wasmann 1904

Dorylus (Anomma) kohli Wasmann 1904: 669 . Six syntype workers, DR Congo: St. Gabriel (near Kisangani), collected by P. Kohl, NHME (examined).

Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus Santschi 1914: 430. Holotype worker, Tanzania: Manow, collected by M. Viehmeyer, NHMB (examined), new synonomy.

Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus; Wheeler 1922: 736, Bolton 1995: 180.

Since the diagnostic features of large D. gribodoi workers are constant in all examined samples (from eastern Guinea to eastern Nigeria) and the Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus worker from Tanzania (more than 3000 km outside the recorded range of D. gribodoi ) lacks these features, we exclude this form from D. gribodoi and place it under D. kohli Wasmann.

The matching of males and workers by analysis of gene sequences of specimens from the same population is a promising approach for clarifying the taxonomy of army ants and other groups of ants in which these forms are rarely collected together. The discovery of more male-worker associations is essential not only for sorting out the taxonomic confusion in Dorylus , but also for determining the diagnostic features of the subgenera.