Camponotus walkeri

This species is not uncommon in some Perth coastal parklands where native vegetation persists, and has also been collected as far east as Coolgardie, and as far north as Shark Bay (Heterick 2009).

Identification
Heterick (2009) - Described from a major worker from East Wallabi Island in the Abrolhos, and the colour is given as ‘brownishblack’ (Forel 1893). Specimens from NSW believed to be C. walkeri are held in SAMA, and these have lighter brown bodies. All specimens I have seen from WA, however, are black with light yellow legs.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 *  walkeri. Camponotus walkeri Forel, 1893d: 454 (s.) AUSTRALIA. Forel, 1910b: 72 (w.). Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Forel, 1914a: 269. Current subspecies: nominal plus bardus.

Description
Worker major. Length 10 mm. Mandibles short, obtuse, sparsely punctate, armed with 6 teeth. Clypeus without trace of a lobe, scarcely sub keeled. The head scarcely larger than wide, wider behind than at the front, excavated behind. Cheeks quite convex. Frontal ridges diverging. A pit in the place of the anterior occellus. Scapes reach the posterior margin of the head. Thorax of similar form to C.marginatus Latr. but the mesonotum is more convex. The declivity of the epinotum is high and abrupt. Node oval, sharp, convex and high. Tibias armed on the internal side with a range of large spines, very distinct and erect. The tibias are sub depressed, sub channeled but not prismatic. The whole body finely shagreen and sub glossy. Gaster finely wrinkled transversely. Superimposed sparse punctation which is a little deep is spread out over the whole body, but more abundant and deeper on the front of the head. A few sparse yellowish hairs on the body; no erect pilosity on tibias or antennae. Adpressed pubescence very short very sparse very diluted. Of a brownish black. Metanotum, node part of the gastric segments and the mandibles a reddish brown. Limbs and antennae testaceous, femurs lighter, tibias darker. Baudin Island; North West Australia. (J Walker)

Forel,A.(1902) Perth, Western Australia. (CHASE) Worker major, 11 to 12 mm; the clypeus presents a little more of a lobe than the type. This species is very near testaceipes Smith but glabrous (almost without hairs and pubescence) with the basal face of the epinotum much shorter and much higher.

Forel (1910) Worker major and minor. Gunnedah NSW (Froggatt) Length 5.7 to 9mm.; The major worker has cheeks and clypeus reddish. In other respects identical with the type but slightly smaller. Worker minor. The head is very elongated, more than 1.25 times longer than wide. Very wide behind. Posterior border almost straight. Epinotum more compressed than the major but identical in other respects. The scape of the major worker does not surpass the occiput, that of the minor worker exceeds it by 2/5 of its length

Camponotus walkeri bardus Forel,A. (1910). Worker major. Length 11mm. Very similar to the type but bigger and more robust. Head extremely convex. HW 3.4mm, HL 3.2mm deeply indented behind. The mandibles have 6 teeth and coarse striations near the terninal edge, striations are absent in the case of walkeri type. The clypeus is not carined, by contrast at the front the trapezoidal lobe is much longer than the type. In other respects similar to the type. Perth, Western Australia (Chase) I had previously attached this species to the walkeri type but the more complete material received from M.Froggatt shows me that it is a question of a different sub species.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Forel A. 1910. Formicides australiens reçus de MM. Froggatt et Rowland Turner. Rev. Suisse Zool. 18: 1-94
 * Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.