Camponotus (Myrmosericus) flavomarginatus Mayr

Type locality Ghana (Camponotus flavomarginatus n. sp., Mayr, 1862: 664, minor worker; Forel, 1907c: 144, queen & male) from the Akwapim Mountains; collector Dr Rudolf Kner - see below
subspecies albisectus (Camponotus micans Nyl. razza albisectus, n. stirps, Emery, 1892a: 120, worker) from Somalia, Mogadishu - see below
unavailable name paucipubens (Camponotus rufoglaucus Jerd. stirps flavomarginatus Mayr v. paucipubens n. var., Santschi, 1911g: 212, worker) from Angola - no images on Antweb (September 2014)
(see Bolton, 1995) .

Note: With a fresh specimen from Rwanda, I have elevated Camponotus contraria to species status.

Mayr's (1862) description is at . Emery's (1892a) description of albisectus is at . Arnold (1924: 693) gave a translation plus contraria, these are at .

Santschi (1911g) described paucipubens briefly as having the red colour on the alitrunk extending further and sometimes even on to the scale. the pubescence on the gaster was shorter and sparser, thus the sculpture was more apparent and the gaster more obviously black.

Wheeler (1922) has no other West African records, although he listed it, as a subspecies of rufoglaucus, from all over the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

From Ghana on open ground and exposed herbs at the Mampong Cemetery Farm, and in 12 cocoa canopy samples by Room (1971), also on cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1975). Sixteen workers were collected on the ground under Amelonado cocoa at CRIG by Bigger (1981a), and Belshaw & Bolton (1994b) collected fifteen workers at Bunso and CRIG, as 'tourists' in leaf litter under secondary forest and cocoa. Room (1971) found it to be positively associated with Crematogaster clariventris.

In Cameroun, found in pitfall traps, with total of 50-300 individuals, in all three of Jackson's cocoa plots at Nko'emvon (Jackson, 1984).

Collingwood (1985) recording it from Saudi Arabia, noted that it is a distinctively patterned pubescent species in the C. rufoglaucus complex. Characteristics he used for diagnosis were the absence of a metanotal groove; the gaster with dull pubescence, that is long thick and silvery, with a distinct longitudinal pattern on each side of the median line; head and body uniformly dark. I have to suggest that this is a description of Camponotus cinctellus.

Nigeria specimens (Taylor, 1978: 7).
MAJOR - TL 9.00 mm, HL 2.49, HW 2.49, SL 1.93, PW 1.52
MINOR - TL 5.76 mm, HL 1.43, HW 1.12, SL 1.87, PW 1.03
Colour black, extremities dark red-brown, dull. Coarse erect hairs sparse, but covered all over with a fairly dense pilosity (pubescence) of a pale yellow colour particularly on the gaster. Declivity of propodeum smoothly curved. Petiole a rounded node.
Fairly common especially on insolated ground, where it nests in the soil. Forages widely across the ground and on native herbaceous vegetation and trees; also on cocoa (fairly common), cashew, coffee, kola and oil palm. Will tend aphids on cocoa but probably does not build tents.

The photomontage of a major worker labelled as the type is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0915599. There is no attribution in the original texts that give credibility to the specimen and the Antweb scales are patently wrong - there are no Camponotus (Myrmosericus) with a TL ca 19 mm and HW ca 4.8 mm. Given that the overall morphology and colour (allowing the characteristic magenta tint common to all Antweb images) appears to be flavomarginatus, I feel that this is a good paratype, if not the holotype.

Now (April 2015) the Antweb page has it as a syntype in the NHMW, Vienna.  The collector's name appears to be "Kner" which ties in with the Mayr description of Crematogaster kneri, also from the Akwapim Mountains in Gold Coast (Ghana). The true collector, however, appears to have been Georg von Frauenfeld, who was on the Novara Expedition and not Kner.

The photomontage of a minor worker from the albiscetus type collection is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0905793. The colouration and general morphology place it closer to Camponotus rufoglaucus.

Oxford University Museum specimens

The photomontage is of a major from Cameroun, Awae II; collector Fotso Kuate (Camponotus sp1).

The photomontage is of a major from Kenya, Subukia; collectors Dupont & Braet.  Specimen with a light film of grease obscuring pubescence to some extent.

The photomontage is of a minor from Congo, Dzio-Dzio; collector Yves Braet.

This has the low rounded petiole profile of the minor I  drew in Nigeria and compares with the sharper petiole of those below.

The photomontage is of minor specimens from Rwanda, near Kigali, coffee plantation, collector Gabriel Bizimungu (2005). 

The photomontage is of a minor from the Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha National Park; collector Philippe Annoyer (CAR DAA 2.

The photomontage derived from those of Mike Lush at http://sifolinia.blogspot.com/2008/02/camponotus-flavomarginatus.html

The photomontage is of a minor worker from Tanzania, Mkomazi Game Reserve; collector G C McGavin; OUMNH 2005-030.

The collated photo is edited from those shown by Muhammad Mahdi of Tanzania on http://www.diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=19226&pid=86657#post_86657.