Camponotus froggatti

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 *  froggatti. Camponotus froggatti Forel, 1902h: 504 (s.w.) AUSTRALIA. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1968: 218 (l.). Combination in C. (Myrmosaga): Forel, 1912i: 92; in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1920b: 257. See also: Santschi, 1928e: 482.

Description
Workers length 4.4-6mm Worker major. Mandibles short, obtuse, armed with 5 teeth, punctate, finely shagreen, sub opaque, with some striations. The clypeus without a carina, median part much wider than long, the sides diverging a little, without anterior lobe, the anterior border tri dented. The median indentation is narrow and small. Frontal area distinct. Antennae insertions are very close to the posterior of the clypeus. Frontal carinae are sinuous, strongly diverging. The scapes pass the head by 1/6 of their length. The head is very convex, almost as wide as long, a little concave behind where it has its greatest width. very moderately narrowed at the front, sides quite convex, obtuse at the front, but not truncate. Thorax short; pronotum slightly imprinted at the front in the middle, with anterior angles rounded, but sub bordered, in other respects convex. Mesonotum a little sub bordered; the anterior border exceeds the level of the pronotum. The basal face of the metanotum (= propodeum) moderately narrow without a surface; in profile strongly concave in a saddle form towards the posterior third resembling C. quadrimaculatus and kelleri of Madigascar, but in the case of the latter the concavity is in the middle and wider. The declivity is short and abrupt. The node is very thick, as thick at the summit as at the base, with a summit which is very convex representing a border. Cylindrical tibias, without trace of barbs (except for those at the extremities). Glossy, weakly shagreen. Some large pits sparse on the clypeus and cheeks. Apart from that the punctation is sparse, fine and not obvious. Pilosity erect, yellow, very sparse on the body, none on the limbs. Pubescence very fine, very short very sparse. Black; coxa and femurs very pale yellow; tibias and base of the coxa and femurs brown. Mandibles, antennae and the anterior border of the head a yellowish brown. The borders of the gastric segments, yellow. Worker minor. Head trapezoidal, strongly widened behind, a little longer than wide, sub pressed behind the eyes with a rather distinct margin (a little less than in the case of ephippium) from the eye to the occipital angle. The head, being widened behind, does not appear compressed but under the above mentioned edge, its posterior inferior lateral part is depressed which one can see by looking at it from underneath. Maxillary palps long, exceeding occiput by a little. The scapes surpass the head by 1/3 their length. The thorax is exactly like the major but in the minor the anterior impression of the pronotum becomes invisible. The clypeus is more convex than the major, sub careened, sub lobed (rounded lobe), scarcely indented in the middle of its anterior border. Front of head has almost no big pits; the mandibles, antennae and the anterior border of the head yellow red. In other respects the pilosity, pubescence and color and the remainder of the form is like the major. Wollongbar, Richmond River, New South Wales. (Froggatt) This species is quite particular. The head edged and sub depressed behind in the case of the minor worker relates it to ephippium while other characters make it closer to quadrimaculatus. But the mandibles with 5 teeth, the short and wide form of the clypeus and the insertions of the antennae give it a separate place.