Camponotus michaelseni

Mostly confined to the south-west (WA). Within this area it is most common in the laterite soil of the Darling Range where its nests under stones are readily found. (Heterick 2009)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus michaelseni Forel, 1907h: 303 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
 * Combination in C. (Myrmogonia): Forel, 1914a: 269;
 * combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1925b: 111;
 * combination in C. (Thlipsepinotus): Santschi, 1928e: 483.
 * Status as species: Emery, 1925b: 111; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 116; Taylor, 1987a: 13; Bolton, 1995b: 111; McArthur, 2007a: 341; Heterick, 2009: 69; McArthur, 2014: 128.
 * bardus. Camponotus walkeri subsp. bardus Forel, 1910b: 73 (s.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
 * Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1925b: 112.
 * Subspecies of walkeri: Crawley, 1923b: 178; Emery, 1925b: 112; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 121; Taylor, 1987a: 15; Bolton, 1995b: 88; McArthur, 2014: 140.
 * Junior synonym of michaelseni: Heterick, 2021: 17.

Taxonomic Notes
Heterick (2021): Camponotus walkeri bardus is unquestionably identical with C. michaelseni, even though the syntype major worker of the latter featured on AntWeb and AntWiki is headless.

Description
Worker minor. Length, 7.2-7.6 mm. Mandibles 6 toothed, with gently curved outer border, shining, thickly and strongly punctate. Clypeus weakly keeled, anterior border arc shaped, in the middle of which three small weak curves are visible. The head is rectangular, longer than wide, somewhat compressed at the sides with almost straight sides and posterior edge. Eyes strongly convex and big. Frontal area triangular. Frontal ridges curved, diverging at the posterior. The shaft protrudes over the posterior edge for a good 2/5 of its length. Pronotum very weakly convex, distinctly flattened, forward and to the side (almost near the posterior corners) bluntly rounded. With the mesonotum and the short basal surface of the metanotum (= propodeum) the pronotum forms a long triangular surface (a long uniform isosceles triangle with the point behind; only the base of the triangle i.e. the anterior border of the pronotum, convex). The disproportionately high, long sloping surface of the metanotum is as long as the base surface, the mesonotum and 1/3 of the pronotum taken all together. It is almost vertical and forms with the basal surface a very strongly rounded angle. Further it is extremely narrow above as the posterior point of the base surface, almost edged. Mesometanotal suture scarcely distinguishable. Node rather thick, anterior more convex than posterior, above almost pointed. Tibias cylindrical with 5-6 spines. Strongly glossy; fine punctations in a crossed pattern. The sides of the thorax with sharper long striations. Head large and very weakly punctate. On the body here and there an upstanding hair. Tibias and scapes without hair. Also the flat-lying covering of hair almost only on the tibias and very scattered. Black; mandibles, antennae and limbs brown; extremities of the tarses and border of the mandibles reddish. Thighs, thigh surrounds and hips yellow. Station 101, Mundaring Weir; Stat.129 Jarrahdale; Stat. 152, Goosberry Hill; Stat. 154 Pickering Brook. This species is at once easily recognizable because of the shape of the metanotum. It is by the way very different from C schmeltzi Mayr

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Majer J. D., and O. G. Nichols. 1998. Long-term recolonization patterns of ants in Western Australian rehabilitated bauxite mines with reference to their use as indicators of restoration success. Journal of Applied Ecology 35: 161-182.