Camponotus (Myrmoplatypus) banghaasi Emery, 1903

Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex & Troya, Adrian, 2022, Ants of Ecuador: new species records for a megadiverse country in South America, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20210089) 66 (2), pp. 1-15 : 4

Camponotus (Myrmoplatypus) banghaasi Emery, 1903

Figs. 4 , 21A

Material examined. Ecuador. Orellana: Parque Nacional Yasuní, 32 Km SSE Limoncocha , Km 39 Pompeya sur, 0.65713°S, 76.453°W. 216m, 2☿, 1994-01-22. Erwin, T. et al., fogging, ( MEPN); same information, except: 7☿, 1995-02-08, ( MEPN) .

Comments. The main distinguishing feature of this species is a whitish-yellow area partially covering the gaster, leaving a black subtriangular, longitudinal band dorsally; majors and minor workers lack erect hairs on the antennal scapes; pronotum lacking spines; hind tibiae strongly flattened (as in for example, C. sericeiventris Guérin- Méneville) with anterior concave surface. Although C. banghaasi is an uncommonly collected species, possibly because of its arboreal habits and presumably small colonies as compared to other Camponotus species, it may be easily noticed due to its large size (ca. 10-12 mm) in understorey Amazonian rainforest trails. It was previously reported only from Peru ( Mackay, 2004).

Figures

Figure 4 Camponotus banghaasi Emery (worker,MEPN 34287):A)dorsal view,B) frontal view, C) lateral view. Images by Vladimir Carvajal.Scale bars = 1 mm.

Figure 21 Geographic distribution of the species examined in the present study.