DIAGNOSIS. Yellow to light brown species, with very short scapes (46 <SIL <57) and small to medium size (0.28 <HW <0.69). Propodeal ridge always absent, though a thin dark line might be present in major workers, but never projecting as a shelf dorsally.

OVERVIEW. This complex comprises four similar small yellowish species. Three are restricted to Southern Africa and Eastern Africa and present a marked allometry, with the major workers with more square heads (A. hitai sp. nov., A. mariae and A. steindachneri) and the fourth species A. boltoni sp. nov. is monomorphic and West African.

Aenictus steindachneri presents the lateropropodeum covered with a short, white abundant pubescence, while is bare except for some isolated setae in the other three; A. hitai sp. nov. is the most sculptured species in the complex with its dorsopropodeum reticulated-punctuated (even in the minima workers), which is smooth in the rest of species. Aenictus boltoni sp. nov. and A. mariae are very similar species separable by minor differences in the metanotal suture and postpetiolar shape, also their distribution does not seem to overlap, with A. boltoni sp. nov. distributed in Western Africa and Congo basin and A. mariae restricted to Southern Africa.