Camponotus (Myrmamblys) chapini, Wheeler, W. M., 1922

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 : 254-255

Camponotus (Myrmamblys) chapini , new species

Text Figure 68

Worker major.- Length 5.5 to 6.5 mm.

Head very large in proportion to the remainder of the body, longer than broad (without the mandibles, 2.4 X 2.2 mm.), broader behind than in front, with deeply excised posterior, rather convex lateral borders and prominent, rounded posterior corners. Mandibles stout, convex, coarsely 6-toothed. Clypeus flattened, strongly carinatc, its anterior border notched on each side, with a short median lobe, angularly emarginata in the middle and rounded at the corners. Frontal area obsolete; frontal groove distinct; frontal carina, approximated in front, subparallel and widely separated behind, nearly as far apart as their distance from the lateral borders of the head. Eyes small and flat. Antennae short, scapes (1.2 mm.) curved, somewhat flattened basalIy and thickened at their tips, which extend only about three times their greatest diameter beyond the eyes. Thorax small, short, and robust, not longer than the head, very broad through the pronotum. which is as broad as long, very rapidly narrowed to the laterally compressed epinotum; the meso- and epinotum together not longer than the pronotum. Promesonotal suture strongly impressed, metanotum very small and short, but distinct. In profile the general dorsal outline of the thorax is arcuate, but the mesonotum is somewhat raised in front at the suture above the pronotum; the epinotum sloping, rounded, with indistinct, subequal base and declivity. Petiole small, its scale elliptical from behind, evenly rounded above, with a slight angular projection in the middle of the superior border; in profile scarcely thicker below than above, much compressed anteroposteriorly, about three times as high as thick, with blunt superior border. Gaster much smaller than the head, the first segment anteriorly truncated, the dorsal surface convex. Legs rather stout, tibiae slightly flattened, tarsal claws rather long.

Shining throughout; mandibles coarsely punctate, at their bases shagreened and subopaque. Clypeus and head sharply shagreened and covered with coarse, sparse punctures, which are very uniform on the clypeus and cheeks, somewhat shallower and more scattered on the front and vertex. Posterior corners of head with a few elongate foveolae. Thorax and gaster more finely shagreened than the head, the gaster transversely, and both with scattered piligerous punctures.

Hairs yellow, sparse, coarse, erect, and rather short. Petiolar border with four setae; gula with only a few short hairs; cheeks hairless. Scapes naked; tibiae with numerous, very short subappressed hairs. Pubescence sparse, appressed, distinct, short on the mandibles, clypeus, and cheeks, longer on the gaster.

Head deep castaneous, almost black; mandibles and anterior portion of clypeus deep red; antennae, pronotum, coxae, and legs brownish yellow or testaceous; remainder of thorax, petiole, gaster, and an inverted V-shaped spot on the dorsal surface of the pronotum, pale castaneous.

Worker minor.- Length 3 to 4.5 mm.

Differing from the major in its much smaller size and the shape of the head, which is as broad as long, a little broader behind than in front, with straight sides and feebly convex posterior border. Clypeus strongly carinate as in the major, but its anterior lobe with straight entire anterior border and subdentate angles. Mandibles smoother than in the major, much less distinctly punctate. Antennal scapes extending about one-fifth their length beyond the posterior corners of the head.

Sculpture, pilosity, and color much as in the major worker, but the thorax uniformly brown throughout, and the head paler, though darker than the thorax and gaster.

Described from five major and eleven minor workers from Garamba (type locality), a major from Medje, and a minor from Faradje (Lang and Chapin). The specimen from the locality last mentioned is from the stomach of a frog (Rana occipitalis) and three of the workers from Garamba are from the stomach of a toad (Bufo regularis). According to a note accompanying the Garamba specimens, "these ants nest in small conical termitaria." And the further remark is added: "There are few of these termitaria without ants, which sometimes run about in the same galleries as the termites but seem more often to have no dealings with these insects."