Colobopsis howensis

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia, Lord Howe Island.

Nomenclature

 *  howensis. Camponotus (Colobopsis) howensis Wheeler, W.M. 1927i: 152, fig. 12 (w.) AUSTRALIA. See also: McArthur & Shattuck, 2001: 33.

Description
Worker minor. Length 4.5-5 mm. Head about one-sixth longer than broad, slightly narrower in front than behind, broadest through the eyes, with broadly rounded posterior corners and nearly straight sides. Eyes large, moderately convex, a little more than half again as long as their distance from the anterior corners of the head. Mandibles short and rather convex, their somewhat oblique apical border with 5 subequal teeth. Clypeus broader than long, subcarinate, its anterior border slightly reflected, forming a short, broadly rounded lobe. Frontal area and groove indistinct; frontal carinae rather straight, diverging posteriorly. Antennae slender; scapes extending about 2/5 their length beyond the posterior border of the head. Thorax long, laterally compressed, especially in the epinotal region; promesonotal and mesoepinotal sutures impressed, the former more strongly than the latter. Thoracic dorsum in profile nearly straight, except for the sutural impressions and a slight elevation of the mesonotum anteriorly; pronotum feebly rounded in front. The compression of the epinotum reduces its dorsal surface to a roof-like ridge with terminates behind in a blunt point from which the triangular declivity falls nearly perpendicularly in profile; the base being nearly straight and horizontal, the somewhat shorter declivity distinctly concave. Petiole node rather high, its anterior surface convex above, its posterior surface flat, the superior border very sharp. Seen from behind the node is rectangular, somewhat narrowed above, the superior border straight and entire, with distinct lateral corners, more rarely somewhat emarginate in the middle. Gaster elongate elliptical; legs somewhat flattened, the fore femora distinctly enlarged. Shining and very finely and evenly shagreened; mandibles finely striate-punctate; cheeks sparsely but not deeply punctate. Hairs yellow, very sparse, present only on the clypeus, front, vertex and gaster. Pubescence short, sparse and appressed, distinct only on the gaster, appendages and head. Black; mandibles, clypeus, cheeks and antennae castaneous; palpi yellow; insertions and tips of antennal scapes, first funicular joint, knees, and tarsi brownish yellow; tibiae brown. Described from numerous specimens from Lord Howe Island. This species is related to C. sommeri Forel of New Caledonia, but is quite distinct in color, and has a narrower head, more angulate epinotum, etc. The thorax of howensis is more like that of several Fijian species (mayrellus, mandella and janus) recently described by Mann, but all these forms have a differently shaped head and coloration. C. conithorax Emery of the New Hebrides is also related to howensis but is somewhat smaller, has 6-toothed mandibles, is more opaque, and the thorax and petiole have a different shape.