The Ants of Africa

The Ants of Africa
Genus Camponotus subgenus Tanaemyrmex
Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) minusculus Viehmeyer - new status

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) minusculus Viehmeyer - new status

Type location Tanzania (Camponotus maculatus Fabr. subsp. n. minusculus, Viehmeyer, 1914c: 44, major & minor workers & queen) from Manow, Bez. Langenburg; major & minor workers & queen described .

{Camponotus minisculus} Viehmeyer's (1914c) description is at . Santschi (1915c: 282) gave a note and illustration, this is at .

Curiously, Emery (1920c: 6) listed it as a subspecies of the reddish-yellow species Camponotus guttatus from Cameroun. Santschi (1915c) had noted how, in comparison with Camponotus maculatus miserabilis, the specimen of a minisculus major sent to him by Viehmeyer had a shorter head which was more convex laterally, the frontal carinae were wider apart and the genae had short silky hairs (none in miserabilis); also the petiole scale was slightly lower. He thought minisculus was close to Camponotus traegaordhi (type location South Africa, Santschi, 1914e), from which it differed by its shorter length and less distinctly patchy gaster.

{Camponotus minusculs major} The photomontage of the type major worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0910043.

{Camponotus minusculs minor} The photomontage of the type minor worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0910044.

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