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Nugi81 got it right, as usual: Pheidole rugaticeps. Dr. Taylor identified this ant from a sample that included one major and several minor workers.

In Ants of Africa, Dr. Taylor notes that Pheidole is a "very large and taxonomically confused genus, with a multiplicity of nesting sites and foraging habits. Bernard (1952) noted there were 76 species known from Africa, of which 44 were from "French West Africa"; and described the classification as a maze, complicated by the presence of workers and true soldiers, with enormous heads. Because of the relative similarity of males, queens and workers, he found the soldiers with distinct variations to be the only useful form for distinguishing species. Personally, I too found the soldiers, in general, to be much more useful in distinguishing the various species." Nevertheless, he provides a "provisional key to minors of species and separable forms."

The first couplet in the key asks whether the postpetiole is wider than long, a judgment more easily made from a top view than from the photo provided. A top view would have shown that the postpetiole is longer than wide, indicating rugaticeps group; total length of just over 3mm, plus colors and spine lengths help to distinguish this specimen from three other specis in the group. If one takes a wrong guess at the first couplet, the key winds through a number of factors, many of which are also not readily determined from the provided photo. One might end up anywhere, including at P. megacephala, which should be slightly smaller than this specimen and has more of a domed rather than impressed mesonotum. I note that the P. megacephala minors pictured on Antweb have tremendous variability. As Dr. Ant himself has said in the past, identifying Pheidole to species is difficult.

H