The Ants of Africa Genus Camponotus subgenus Orthonotomyrmex
Genus Camponotus

Orthonotomyrmex Ashmead (1906: 31)

Subgenus definition - as a rule of a heavy build, with opaque integument, sometimes silky or with a few short, coarse, obtuse hairs. Head of major very broad posteriorly. Head of minor trapezoidal, broadened behind. Clypeus with or without median lobe. Pronotum variably margined; dorsum of thorax usually with metanotal groove, in the form of a notch, sometimes reduced to a deep line; propodeum margined on sides and behind, sometimes rounded. Petiole node squamiform or nodiform, summit always smooth edged.

Ashmead (1905b: 34) first named the genus Orthonotus with its type species being Formica sericea Fabr. He renamed it Orthonotomyrmex the next year - his statements are at . The status was reduced to a subgenus of Camponotus by Forel (1913b: 350), who noted that this preceded the name Myrmentoma used in his earlier list of subgenera (Forel, 1912i: 91-92) .

1	Gaster elongated without pubescence and shiny; rest of body matt; entirely black, appendages red brown with the scape, middle of the femora and tibiae darker brown, trochanters reddish yellow; minor TL 4.8-5.8 mm; erect hairs brownish, particularly long and pointed on the alitrunk and petiiole	South Africa - liogaster
--	Gaster with distinct pubescence, in some species forming a dense covering on the gaster	2
2	Petiole node with narrow profile	3
--	Petiiole node thick and domed	4
3	Petiole node wider than propodeum and defined dentate posterior dorsal margin; TL 4.6-6.0 mm; sparse erect pilosity greyish and fairly short; generally reticulo-punctate; wider on head and pronotum than other species, finer on gaster and femurs, giving dull appearance; black, tibiae, tarsi & antennae ferruginous, mandibles castaneous, inner edges piceous (Arnold drawing misleading)	.
.		Zimbabwe - scabrinodis
--	Petiole node with smooth edges but emarginate; TL 8-10 mm	Sahara, Egypt and eastwards into South Asia - obtusus
4	Pubescence golden and shiny, variably dense on gaster	5
--	Pubescence greyish white	6
5	Pubescence golden and shiny, dense on gaster; major TL 8-10 mm; basically unicolorous	West Africa and Congo Basin, Sudan, Zimbabwe - sericeus
--	Head, alitrunk and appendages red often quite bright; more slender; petiole scale higher; gaster black; pubescence greyish yellow; the clypeus is quite distinct from that of sericeus, in having no median carina but with the anterior margin with the median part concave and quite prominent denticles between the median arc and the lateral arcuate sectors	Western Sahel - euchrous
6	Propodeum profile distinctly domed, convex both longitudinally and transversely	7
--	Propodeum dorsum flat or nearly so; pubescence sparse	8
7	Pubescence greyish-white and dense all over; black, mandibles and tarsi dark reddish brown; major TL 9-10.2 mm	.
.	Minor	Angola & South Africa - cubangensis
--	Pubescence extremely sparse; propodeum and petiole with very distinctive "cobbled" sculpturation; major TL ca 7.0 mm	South Africa - new species RSA
8	Mesonotum strongly narrowed posteriorly; petiole profile a forward tilted dome; major TL 9-10 mm; with large but shallow pits superimposed on the fundamental reticulate-punctate sculpture of the propodeum and petiole node; sides of propodeum coarsely rugose	.
.	Minor (type)
.		Gabon, Angola & South Africa - mayri
--	Mesonotum not strongly narrowed posteriorly, petiole profile a rounded dome; without any large but shallow pits superimposed on the fundamental reticulate-punctate sculpture of the propodeum and petiole node; major TL 10.5 mm	.
.	Major	.
.	Minors 8.2-8.7 mm	Congo Basin, east into northern Zambia - sankisianus

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© 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2018 - Brian Taylor CBiol FRSB FRES 11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

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