Taxonomy of the African army ant Dorylus gribodoi Emery, 1892 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) — new insights from DNA sequence data and morphology

Numerous species in the Old World army ant genus Dorylus have been described based on a single sex or caste. Our analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene sequences of specimens from the same population reveals that D. gribodoi Emery males are conspecific with D. gerstaeckeri Emery workers, rendering D. gerstaeckeri a junior synonym of D. gribodoi. Dorylus gribodoi var. insularis Santschi, D. gribodoi var. confusus Santschi and Dorylus lamottei Bernard are also synonymized under D. gribodoi. A description of the D. gribodoi queen, which was collected together with workers from a nest in Ivory Coast, is provided. Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus Santschi is shown to be distinct from D. gribodoi and synonymised under Dorylus kohli Wasmann. Similar studies examining the relationship between species described based on males and others described based on workers are needed to clarify the formidable taxonomic confusion in the ecologically important but little-studied genus Dorylus.