About Paltothyreus tarsatus Mayr
Paltothyreus, commonly called the African stink ant, is a monotypic genus of ants belonging to the subfamily Ponerinae. Paltothyreus tarsatus, first described by Mayr, is the only recognized species in this genus, and it is widely distributed across Sub-Saharan Africa. Worker individuals of this species are very large, measuring 17–20 mm. Queens resemble workers in appearance but are larger at 23 mm and have wings. Paltothyreus tarsatus builds shallow nests that span a large home range. Most of the nest structure consists of shallow tunnels, which foraging ants use to travel without risking predation, and allow them to emerge far from the nest center. Nests of this species can hold as many as 5000 workers, a population size that very few other ant species can reach. While these ants are predators that feed on animals as large as beetles, the frog Phrynomantis microps is sometimes found living inside their nests, as the frog uses the ant nests as burrows. A skin secretion from the frog suppresses the ants' aggressive behavior, allowing the frog to coexist with the ant colony.
