Camponotus christi

Camponotus christi is widely distributed across Madagascar. It occupies sclerophyll forests of the central high plateau, tropical dry forests in the west to coastal scrub and littoral rainforests, as well as montane rainforests in the east. While its workers have been found foraging on the forest floor and the lower portions of vegetation, their nest sites have been located in root mats in the ground layer, rotten logs, rotting tree stumps, rotten pockets above the ground, dead branches and bamboo above the ground, and in canopy moss and leaf litter.

Identification
A member of the subgenus Mayria (see diagnosis). Rakotonirina and Fisher (2018) - Median portion of clypeus without longitudinal carina; mandible with six teeth; anteromedian margin of clypeus not bordered by a lamella; in lateral view, mesosoma long and low, its dorsal outline not a dome-like structure; propodeal declivity inclined anteriorly; body color entirely yellow to light brown, legs with same color as body.

Workers of C. christi are similar to those of Camponotus mainty, Camponotus foersteri and Camponotus maculiventris in that their clypeus lacks a median longitudinal carina, and in lateral view, their mesosoma is long and low. However, C. christi workers are easily separable by their entirely yellow to light brown body color and legs. In the members of C. mainty, their body is entirely black to reddish-black. In the two latter species, at least the trochanters and the distal portion of the coxa are yellowish to white.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Malagasy Region: Madagascar.

Nomenclature

 *  christi. Camponotus christi Forel, 1886f: 184 (w.) MADAGASCAR.
 * Combination in C. (Myrmocamelus): Forel, 1914a: 270.
 * Combination in C. (Myrmosaga): Emery, 1920b: 257.
 * Combination in C. (Mayria): Emery, 1925b: 122.
 * Status as species: Forel, 1891b: 63 (redescription); Dalla Torre, 1893: 224; Emery, 1896d: 373 (in list); Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 1045; Emery, 1925b: 122; Bolton, 1995b: 92; Rakotonirina & Fisher, 2018: 18.

Worker
Rakotonirina and Fisher (2018) - Minor. In full-face view, head elongate (CWb/CL: 0.76±0.03; 0.69–0.83), lateral margins straight and more or less parallel to each other, rounding broadly to the slightly, medially excised posterior margin. Anterior clypeal margin straight, with broadly angulate junction to lateral margin; median longitudinal carina absent. Eyes not breaking lateral outlines of head; their posterior margin located approximately at posterior third portion of head (PoOc/CL: 0.34±0.01; 0.31–0.36). Mandible triangular, apical margin with six sharp teeth. Antennal scape long, more than its distal half extending beyond posterior cephalic border. In lateral view, pronotum and anterior half of mesonotum forming feeble convexity, posterior half of mesonotum and propodeal dorsum straight and long, joining declivity surface with noticeable angle. Propodeal dorsum roughly three times as long as height of declivity; propodeal spiracle circular. Petiolar node as high as or higher than long, its dorsal margin rounding to anterior face and joining posterior face at an angle.

Dorsum of head covered with numerous yellowish, elongate, erect hairs; pronotum and mesonotum each with a pair of erect hairs, propodeum with a pair of hairs found on junction to declivity; sparse, short pubescence present on dorsum of body. Body color entirely yellowish-orange to orange-brown and funicular segments becoming dark brown toward the apex.

Major. Differing from minor worker in the following characters: enlarged head, with markedly concave posterior margin; apical third of antennal scape surpassing posterior cephalic margin; robust mesosoma, metanotum distinctly visible, propodeal dorsum rounding to declivity and twice as long as height of declivity; petiolar node tapering dorsally. More pairs of erect hairs on junction of propodeal dorsum and declivity and on posterodorsal margin of petiolar node.