Camponotus dromas

Camponotus dromas
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus
Species:	C. dromas
Binomial name
	Camponotus dromas; Santschi, 1919 Specimen Labels

Identification

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -12.73332977° to -29.71666667°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Biology

Castes

Images from AntWeb


Syntype of Camponotus dromas. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0911754. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.


Syntype of Camponotus dromas. Worker. Specimen code casent0911755. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

dromas. Camponotus (Myrmocamelus) dromas Santschi, 1919a: 332 (s.w.m.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
- [Misspelled as dromus by Emery, 1925b: 111.]
- Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1925b: 111; Santschi, 1928e: 481.
- Status as species: Emery, 1925b: 111; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 113; Taylor, 1987a: 12; Bolton, 1995b: 97; McArthur, 2007a: 317; Heterick, 2009: 65; McArthur, 2014: 102.

Type Material

Camponotus (Myrmocamelus) dromas Santschi, 1919: Syntype, worker(s), male(s), Townsville, Queensland, Australia, The Natural History Museum.
Camponotus (Myrmocamelus) dromas Santschi, 1919: Syntype, 4 workers, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Camponotus (Myrmocamelus) dromas Santschi, 1919: Syntype, 1 worker, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, South Australian Museum.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Workers length 9-12 mm.

Major worker length 12mm. Front of head and mandibles dark red. Top of pronotum and mesonotum and all of the gaster black. The remainder is red. The sculpture as in pellax, bigenus and capito Mayr, but the punctation of the vertex is more sparse than in the case of pellax except behind the eyes. The vertex is smooth and very glossy. The piligerous punctation of the thorax is intermediate between pellax and bigenus with a bottom base of fine reticulation and sub matte (except for the declivity). Gaster a little more glossy with fine transverse striations. Pilosity erect and sparse, a little more abundant than pellax, but much less than bigenus. The pubescence is rather thin everywhere except on the sides of the thorax and epinotum where it forms a pelise not hiding the sculpture The head is square (3.5 X 3.5 mm) shaped like capito Mayr, the vertex is very concave, the clypeus is not keeled and the lobe is indented. Mandibles with 5 teeth. Posterior border straight more convex in front than pellax. The profile of the thorax is similar to bigenus but the base of the epinotum is more elongated, one quarter longer than the declivity. The node is higher and more pointed and about 3 times higher than wide, convex from top to bottom in front and flat behind. Posterior tibias 3.4mm long. Scapes 2.1 mm long.

Media worker. length 10.5 mm long. Color as in the worker major, but the occiput is black, so is the promesonotum. Sculpture as in the major worker, the thorax appears more dull because of the pubescence which extends up to and on to the dorsum. It is equally more abundant on the gaster. Head rectangular, a little more narrow at the front, 2.6 mm X 2.1 mm wide, sides a little convex. The eyes are at the posterior third of the head. The extremity of the frontal ridges is more converging. The clypeus is distinctly keeled, the lobe is almost transverse at the front and crenulated with 6 denticles. The pronotum descends at the front in a rather strong oblique slope forming an angle of 140 degrees with the surface of the mesonotum. The latter is more elevated in front than the suture. No trace of a metanotal suture. The epinotum is lower than the mesonotum. The basal face is slightly concave and is 5/3 longer than the declivity with which it unites through an open curve with an angle of about 150 degrees. The node oval with blunt edges, the anterior face strongly convex from top to bottom its length equal to twice its width. The posterior face a little convex in all directions. Posterior tibias 3.3mm long.

Minor worker Length 9 mm. Black with a steel blue sheen on the head and thorax with the gaster slightly greenish. The mandibles, antennae, limbs, declivity of the epinotum and the node red. The anterior femurs are darker in the middle, those of the other two pairs are lighter. Very finely reticulate and shagreen. The occiput, front and fore part of the mesonotum are very glossy and more weakly sculptured than the rest which in part is hidden by dense grayish pubescence on the head and thorax, greenish yellow on the gaster. The pilosity as in the case of the media worker but more whitish. The head rectangular almost as wide in front as behind, the sides and occiput straight. The eyes are at the posterior fifth of the sides. The frontal carinae diverge more than ephippium but less than pellax. The clypeus is keeled along all its length, the posterior border is arched with some denticles. The thorax is strongly convex in front. The pronotum descends more strongly than in the case of the media worker, the mesonotum is convex in profile and is more elevated in front than the strong pronotal suture. The other sutures obsolete and the basal face elongated and rather concave and twice the length of the declivity. The node as in the media worker scarcely lower. Scape length 2.5mm, tibia length 3.7mm

Queensland: Townsville (F P Dodd leg)

References

Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 97, catalogue)
Emery, C. 1925d. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Formicinae. Genera Insectorum 183: 1-302 (page 111, combination in C. (Myrmophyma))
Heterick, B.E. 2021. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part I: Systematics. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 86, 1-245 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2021.001-245).
Heterick, B.E. 2022. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part II: Distribution and biology. Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement 86: 247-510 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2022.247-510).
Santschi, F. 1919a. Cinq notes myrmécologiques. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 52: 325-350 (page 332, soldier, worker male described)
Santschi, F. 1928e. Nouvelles fourmis d'Australie. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 56: 465-483 (page 481, combination in C. (Myrmophyma))

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Andersen A. N., B. D. Hoffmann, W. J. Muller, and A. D. Griffiths. 2002. Using ants as bioindicators in land management: simplifying assesment of ant community responses. Journal of Applied Ecology 39: 8-17.
Andersen A. N., B. D. Hoffmann, and S. Oberprieler. 2016. Diversity and biogeography of a species-rich ant fauna of the Australian seasonal tropics. Insect Science DOI 10.1111/1744-7917.12402
Andersen A. N., J. C. Z. Woinarski, and B. Hoffman. 2004. Biogeography of the ant fauna of the Tiwi Islands, in northern Australia's moonsoonal tropics. Australian Journal of Zoology 52: 97-110.
Andersen, Alan N., John C.Z. Woinarski and Ben D. Hoffman. 2004. Biogeography of the ant fauna of the Tiwi Islands, in northern Australia's monsoonal tropics. Australian Journal of Zoology 52: 97-110.
Heterick B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1-206.
Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.