The Ants of Africa

The Ants of Africa
Genus Camponotus subgenus Tanaemyrmex
Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) hova Forel

maculatus species-group
TL 8-10-12 mm plus; alitrunk profile convex in a smooth elongated curve, propodeal declivity not or poorly separable from dorsum, if the latter always much shorter than dorsum; petiole scale of major cuneiform, with convex anterior face and quite sharp dorsal margin; mostly bicoloured with alitrunk lighter and distinct light areas on gaster; dimorphic (?) minors with head narrowed posteriorly but not dramatically so and without any "neck".

Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) hova Forel

Type location Madagascar (C. rubripes r maculatus var hova, Forel, 1886f: 150, unavailable name, major & minor workers & queen, Forel, 1891b: 35; raised to species by Dalla Torre, 1893: 235) - see below
subspecies
becki (C. maculatus r radamae var becki n var, Forel, 1914d: 251, minor worker, Santschi, 1923e: 292) Madagascar - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101101
boivini (Camponotus boivini n. stirps, Forel, 1891b: 34, worker & queen; 213, male) Madagascar, Boivin - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101342
fairmairei (Camponotus maculatus stirps Fairmairei n. st., Santschi, 1911e: 130, illustrated, minor worker) Madagascar - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101102
fulvus (Emery, 1894a: 72, major & minor workers & queen) Seychelles - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101344
hovahovoides (Forel, 1892l: 232, major & minor workers & queen) Madagascar
hovoides (Dalla Torre, 1893: 249, all forms - this is not a description but simply use of the Forel 1891b: 33 name - Camponotus radamae var hovoides n. var) Madagascar - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101334
mixtellus (Forel, 1891b: 433; Dalla Torre, 1893: 249, major & minor workers; Forel, 1912k: 165, queen & male) Madagascar - http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101893
obscuratus (Camponotus maculatus F. subsp. Radamae Forel var. obscurata n. var., Forel, 1907g: 89; Emery, 1925b: 85 [list only], minor worker & male) Madagascar
pictiventris (Camponotus maculatus F. subspec. pictiventris n. ssp., Mayr, 1901b: 28, major & minor workers) South Africa - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0915685
radamae (Forel, 1891b: 31, illustrated, major & minor workers) Madagascar - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101346
unavailable names
altior (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) radamae For. stirps Becki For. var. altior n. var., Santschi, 1923e: 292, minor worker) Madagascar, Monts Adriginta, J Descarpentries - no images on Antweb (September 2014)
immaculifrons (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) maculatus F. stirps pictiventris Mayr v. immaculifrons n. var., Santschi, 1919a: 349, minor worker) South Africa, Willowmore, Cape, H Brauns - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0911952
luteolous (Forel, 1897c: 202, minor worker; Emery, 1925b: 85) Madagascar - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0101103
octomaculata (Forel, 1910e: 452, minor worker) South Africa - no images on Antweb (September 2014)
most synonymy by Dalla Torre and later Emery (1925b: 825)
all forms known (see Bolton, 1995) .

The plethora of names is due to the usual Forel shambles of reluctance to name new species but rather define varieties, stirps, etc. Baroni Urbani (1972: 131) listed Camponotus pictiventris Mayr as a species.

{Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) hova} {Camponotus hova radamae} Forel's (1886f) description is at .
Forel's (1891b) full description (illustration unavailable) is at .
Forel's (1891b) short description of boivini is at .
Forel's (1891b) description of radamae, with variety mixtellus is at .
Forel's (1891b) short description of hovoides is at .
Forel (1892l: 232) simply states hova-hovoides all forms are intermediate between the race hova and the variety hovoides of C. radamae but closer to C. hova, the male TL 9 mm, it is brownish black.
Forel (1897c) note on luteolous is a minimal description).
Emery's (1894a) description of fulvus is at .
Mayr's (1901b) description of pictiventris major is at with the minor at .
Forel's (1907g) description of obscuratus is at .
Forel's (1910e) description of octomaculatus is at .
Santschi's (1911e) description of fairmairei is at .
Forel's (1914d) description of becki is at .
Santschi's (1919a) description of immaculifrons is at .
Arnold (1922: 629 ff) provided translations as varieties of maculatus; this is at .
Santschi's (1923e) description of becki var altior is at .

{Camponotus hova varieties} From Santschi's (1911e) illustration of minors, it seems likely that radamae, together with strangulatus, which is listed as a subspecies of maculatus (see below), are distinct species from within the pompeius-group.

{short description of image} The photomontage of the type major worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0101908 .

{short description of image} The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0101099 . Note the scale on the head clearly is wrong.

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