Camponotus cowlei

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 *  cowlei. Camponotus cowlei Froggatt, 1896: 387, pl. 27, figs. 1-5 (w.q.m.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1925b: 110; in Melophorus: Clark, 1930c: 22; in Camponotus: Taylor & Brown, D.R. 1985: 112. Junior synonym of Melophorus bagoti: Clark, 1930c: 22. Revived from synonymy: Taylor & Brown, D.R. 1985: 112.

Description
Male Black, wings fuscus, cinereus hairs about the jaws and head, legs and antennae dark chocolate-brown; length four lines (= 8 mm). Head longer than broad, ocelli small, close together, forming a triangle on summit behind the eyes, the latter circular, brown and not very prominent; antennae inserted below the eyes in deep clefts, scape long and slender, the flagellum about half as long again as the scape, clypeus raised in center, mandibles stout at base, hollowed in center, swelling out at tip, terminating in a large tooth and four small teeth along inner edge; prothorax almost as wide as head at apical edge, with a slight ridge down the center, mesothorax forming a boss in the center, metathorax tapering towards the apex. Legs medium, slender, with stout spines at apex of tibiae, and the tarsi thickly spined. Wings fuscus, nervures dark brown, subcostal cell and stigma small. Abdomen node small, rounded on sides, and produced in small angular points on the lower margin, the first segment broad at base, tapering towards the apex, lightly covered with reddish-brown hairs thickest upon the under side; the genitalia very distinct; the side lobes covered with stout cinereus hairs at the tip and inner edge. Female Dark, reddish-brown, wings fuscus, length seven lines. Head large, quadrate, ocelli very small; eyes small, black oval, antennae long, scape nearly as long as the flagellum fovea in center below the antennae, clypeus thickly fringed with long stout ferruginous hairs covering the jaws; mandibles stout, forming a sharp curved tooth at the tip, with a row of four angular teeth below; thorax broad, rounded in front, scutellum large, arcuate in front and slightly angular on the sides; legs stout and thick, tibiae and tarsi very thickly covered with spiny ferruginous hairs; wings large, fuscus, nervous brown. Abdomen large, elongate,oval, smooth and shining, the whole of the upper surface finely coriaceous, but more in the pattern of fine striae than in that of C. inflatus. Worker Honey-worker dark reddish-brown, except the segmental membrane of the abdomen, which is pale yellow, head quadrate, ocelli in depression on summit of head above the eyes; eyes small, black, slightly oval, antennae twelve-jointed, scape not quite as long as flagellum, a few short spines at the apex of the segment, but not bifurcate at the tip as in C. inflatus, covered with a fine silvery pubescence towards the apical joints, clypeus depressed in center, thickly fringed with stout reddish hairs along the apical edge; mandibles large, hollowed out in center, broadest towards the tip, which forms a stout curved fang with a row of four angular teeth below, the intermediate ones the smallest; thorax rounded in front, arched, and broadest at apex of prothorax, meso- and metathorax narrow, truncate at apex; legs long, slender, the tibiae spined along either side, spines at apex of tibiae, long and slender mid and hind legs, tarsi very spiny. Scale rounded, ridged in front and produced into an angular tip on the apical margin; abdominal segments swollen out so that the chitinous plates of the segments are widely separated from each other, but the abdomen is much more corrugated and constricted about the middle than in C. inflatus.