Viticicola, Wheeler

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 : 107-108

Viticicola Wm. M. Wheeler

Worker.-Closely related to Tetraponera . Head convex, and rounded behind, with the clypeus and mandibles shaped as in some species of Tetraponera , the external border of the mandibles deeply emarginate at the base. Eyes much smaller, only about one-sixth as long as the sides of the head, flat: ocelli usually absent, sometimes the anterior present. Frontal carina; short, farther apart than in Tetraponera but shorter and closer together than in Pachysima . Frontal area and frontal groove obsolete. Antennae short, 12-jointed; the funiculi with distinct 3-jointed club, the first funicular joint very long, joints 2 to 7 very short and transverse. Both maxillary and labial palpi 3-jointed. Thorax much as in Tetraponera but more thickset, the pronotum convex and rounded, not marginate or submarginate on the sides, the epinotum very high and convex, hemispherical, with the epinotal gland on each side very long and narrow, extending obliquely upward and forward to the middle of the lateral surface of the segment. Petiole and postpetiole stout, without peduncles, the nodes from above not longer than broad, their ventral portions swollen, without teeth. Gaster and tibial spurs as in Tetraponera but the tarsal claws are simple, not toothed.

Female winged, or ergatoid and wingless, exhibiting also subapterous forms. Even the winged form is much like the worker, but has well-developed ocelli, though the eyes are small and flat. Pronotum large and well developed; mesonotum depressed, flat. Petiole and postpetiole even broader and stouter than in the worker; both broader than long.

Male.-Clypeus longer than in the worker and female; mandibles similar with dentate apical borders. Antennae short, 12-jointed, the second funicular joint much shorter than the scape, not longer than the first, which is slightly swollen. Eyes and ocelli rather large and convex. Mesonotum flattened or depressed, without Mayrian furrows and with very indistinct parapsidal furrows, not overarching the pronotum. There is a very deep and wide excision, separating the pro- and mesosterna and extending dorsally nearly to the mesonotal scutum. Petiole and postpetiole much as in the worker and female, but with their ventral portions even more swollen and convex. Genitalia extruded, less robust than those of Pachysima and Tetraponera . Wings with a discoidal cell, a rather broad, closed radial cell and only one cubital cell.

Larva hypocephalic as in Pachysima and Tetraponera and like that of the latter genus in the development of the exudatoria and dorsal hairs.

Genotype.-Sima tessmanni Stitz .

This monotypic genus seems to me to be sufficiently distinct from Tetraponera . The single species is highly specialized in adaptation to life in the stem cavities of a peculiar liana, Vitex Staudtii (vide infra). The eyes have dwindled and the ocelli have disappeared; the venation of the wings has become more simple and there is a pronounced tendency for the production of wingless and subapterous females -a condition unknown in any species of Tetraponera . This peculiarity, the pale color, and the small eyes indicate that the ants never leave the cavities of their host plant, except when the latter is disturbed or during the marriage flight, and the very pale color of the males indicates that this flight must occur at night. The conspicuous development of the epinotum and of its glands suggests conditions like those in some species of Crematogaster of the subgenus Physocrema (inflata, difformis, vacca, stethogompha, etc.) of the Indomalayan Region, the workers of which are supposed to feed on the secretions of one another's epinota (Bingham). As at present known, the distribution of the new genus is restricted to Spanish Guinea and the Ituri Basin of the Belgian Congo (Map 18). It probably also occurs in Cameroon.