Camponotus cingulatus Mayr 1862

Wild, Alexander L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 48

Camponotus cingulatus Mayr 1862 .

Camponotus cingulatus Mayr 1862: 661 . [syntype q examined, NHMW; Brazil].

Camponotus lessonai Emery 1894b: 3 . NEW SYNONYMY. [w syntypes examined, MCSN; San Pedro, Paraguay (Borelli)].

Camponotus damocles Forel 1909: 264 .

Camponotus (Myrmothrix) cingulatus Mayr. Forel 1914a: 268 . Camponotus (Myrmothrix) lessonai Emery. Emery 1925: 109 . Camponotus (Myrmothrix) cingulatus Mayr. Hashmi 1973: 31 . Camponotus lessonai Emery. Hashmi 1973: 129 .

Hashmi (1973) never saw the types of C. lessonai and subsequently excluded C. lessonai from Myrmothrix . I located Emery’s lessonai types from San Pedro at MCSN and they are nearly identical to Forel’s type of C. damocles from San Bernadino (MHNG, examined). Workers of these forms are considerably darker than Mayr’s type of C. cingulatus and match several recent collections from eastern Paraguay. I have also encountered light-colored C. cingulatus in San Pedro. Whether the presence of sympatric color morphs indicates mere intraspecific variation or the existence of cryptic species is not clear. However, Hashmi (1973) considered C. damocles a junior synonym of C. cingulatus , and if one adopts Hashmi’s broad concepcion of the species then C. lessonai should also be synonymized.