Zasphinctus obamai Hita Garcia 2017
Creators: name: Hita Garcia, Francisco
name: Gómez, Kiko
name: Keller, Roberto A.
name: Schurian, Bernhard
name: Economo, Evan P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Formicidae
Zasphinctus
Zasphinctus obamai

description: Zasphinctus obamai Hita Garcia, 2017
Figs 3 F, 4 F, 5 F, 6 F, 7 F, 8 F, 10 F, 11 F, 12 F, 13 F, 14 F, 15 F, 16 F, 17 F, 18 F, 19 F, 20 F, 21 F, 23
Type material examined.
Holotype • Pinned worker, Kenya, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Buyangu, 0.35222, 34.8647, 1640 m, secondary rainforest, leaf litter, collection code FHG 00001, VII. – VIII. 2004 (F. Hita Garcia) (NMKE: CASENT 0764125). Paratypes • Seven pinned workers: two with same data as holotype (NHMUK: CASENT 0764126; MCZC: CASENT 0764127) • two from Kenya, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Isecheno, equatorial rainforest, sifted litter and soil under Morus mesozygia, 0.34, 34.85, 1550 m, ANTC 8506, 6. XI. 2002 (W. Okeka) (LACM: CASENT 0178218; ZFMK: CASENT 0764648) • two from Kenya, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Kisere Forest Fragment, 0.38505, 34.89378, 1650 m, rainforest, ex leaf litter, Transect 11, collection code FHG 00036, 16. VII. 2007 (F. Hita Garcia) (NMKE: CASENT 0764128; NMKE: CASENT 0764129) and • one from Kenya, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Bunyala Forest Fragment, 0.37889, 34.69917, 1448 m, Winkler leaf litter extraction, collection code ANTC 39476, VIII. 2008 (G. Fischer) (ZFMK: CASENT 0764647).
Cybertype • Dataset was published in Hita Garcia et al. (2017 a) and consists of the volumetric raw data (in DICOM format), 3 D PDFs, and 3 D rotation videos of scans of head, mesosoma, metasoma, and the full body of the physical holotype (NMKE: CASENT 0764125) and / or one paratype (MCZC: CASENT 0764127) in addition to montage photos illustrating head in full-face view, profile, and dorsal views of the body of both specimens. The data was deposited at Dryad and can be freely accessed as virtual representation of both types (Hita Garcia et al. 2017 c, http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4s3v1). In addition to the cybertype data at Dryad, we also provided a freely accessible 3 D surface model of the holotype at Sketchfab (https://skfb.ly/6sPvr).
Non-type material examined.
• One worker from Kenya, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Isecheno, equatorial rainforest, sifted litter and soil under Morus mesozygia, 0.24, 34.87, 1550 m, collection code ANTC 8507, 6. XI. 2002 (W. Okeka) (LACM: CASENT 0178219).
Differential worker diagnosis.
With characters of the Z. obamai group plus the following: body size significantly much smaller (HL 0.55–0.59; WL 0.73–0.81); lateral arms of hypostomal carina less diverging, relatively thin, and angulate at widest points (Fig. 8 F); postgenal sulcus restricted to area adjacent to hypostomal carina and only weakly impressed (Fig. 8 F); postoccipital margin in ventral view with anterior outline moderately or weakly and irregularly defined; anterolateral projections rounded (Fig. 8 F); pleural endophragmal pit weakly developed and shallow but visible (Fig. 10 F); subpetiolar process of petiole (AS II) in profile with extremely thickened anterior and ventral margins and well developed concavity with differentiated fenestra (Fig. 13 F); posterior end of abdominal segment III in ventral view with thick, deep, sharply and irregularly outlined transverse groove (Fig. 16 F); prora in anteroventral view well-developed with thick, irregularly shaped and rounded lateroventral margins (Fig. 16 F); surface sculpture on cephalic dorsum and genae mostly smooth and shiny, with abundant and small piliferous foveae, except for reticulate-punctate anteromedian area (Figs 4 F, 5 F, 19 F, 20 F); general surface sculpture on mesosoma and metasoma mostly smooth and shiny with abundant piliferous punctures, except for reticulate-punctate anterior pronotum, mesopleuron, lateral propodeum, most of lateral petiole, and hypopygidium (Figs 20 F, 21 F)).
Measurements and indices.
Morphometric data is based on six workers from Kenya and can be seen in Table 2, Suppl. material 3.
Distribution and biology.
Zasphinctus obamai is only known from the type locality in western Kenya. As noted in Hita Garcia et al. (2017 a), despite a thorough ant inventory (Hita Garcia et al. 2009), it was only collected few times, thus one of the rarest species in that forest system. It was only found in the leaf litter layer of primary or near-primary forest habitats. No new material was collected since its original description. Consequently, Z. obamai appears to be endemic to the Kakamega Forest.
description: Published as part of Hita Garcia, Francisco, Gómez, Kiko, Keller, Roberto A., Schurian, Bernhard & Economo, Evan P., 2025, A never-ending story: updated 3 D cyber-taxonomic revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) for the Afrotropical region, pp. 1-55 in ZooKeys 1223 on pages 1-55, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1223.131238