Camponotus termitarius Emery 1902

Wild, Alexander L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 48-49

Camponotus termitarius Emery 1902 . NEW STATUS.

Camponotus punctulatus subsp. termitarius Emery 1902: 297. [w syntypes examined, MCSN; Rio Grande do Sul; Brazil (Schupp)].

Camponotus (Myrmoturba) punctulatus r. termitarius Emery. Forel 1913: 249 .

Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) punctulatus subsp. termitaria Emery. Emery 1925: 78. Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) punctulatus termitarius Emery. Kempf 1972: 71 .

The aptly-named Camponotus termitarius is most commonly collected from old termite mounds in low-lying pastures and pastizales. This ant should be treated as a full species. Camponotus termitarius is locally sympatric with C. punctulatus (syntype w examined, NHMW), shows consistent differences in nesting site ( C. punctulatus is a generalist groundnesting ant), and is morphological distinct in a number of characters. First, C. termitarius is more pilose, being intermediate in this regard between the relatively hirsute C. hispidus and the relatively bare C. punctulatus , lacking extensive standing hairs on the side of the head but bearing>8 between the eye and the mandibular insertions. Second, the propodeum of C. termitarius is lower, more elongate, and with a shorter declivitous face than that of C. punctulatus . Third, the microsculpture of the gastric tergites is more extensive, giving the gaster a duller appearance than in either C. hispidus or C. termitarius . Finally, the pubescence is more extensive in C. termitarius than in either C. hispidus or C. termitarius , with the fine appressed setae on the first gastric tergite separated by distances much shorter than the length of the setae and overlapping in places.