Camponotus (Orthonotomyrmex) vividus (F. Smith)

Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269 : 247

Camponotus (Orthonotomyrmex) vividus (F. Smith)

Plate XXI, Figures 1 and 2; Text Figure 63 Numerous workers of this shining black ant taken at Malela (Lang, Chapin, and J. Bequaert) and a single dealatcd female from Lukolela (Lang and Chapin). At Malela, the ants had occupied the large nest of an arboreal termite(Pl. XXI, figs. 1 and 2). "This consisted of strong,woody carton and was built around the stem of a sapling, which grew in a mangrove swamp among raphia palms. When the nest was disturbed the worker ants swarmed out and covered the nest in great numbers and then ran up on our bodies and attacked us furiously. Only after we had cut the nest open did we notice that it had been originally built by termites. Some dead specimens of these were found in one corner. As shown in the photograph, the ants themselves had excavated the strong carton, making more spacious and more irregular cells. There were several large and many small entrances on the surface of the nest."