Camponotus phytophilus

Wheeler collected individuals of this species at Cuernavaca in 1900, attending Membracids on a tall Umbelliferous plant. The types were also collected from vegetation.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Mexico.

Nomenclature

 *  phytophilus. Camponotus (Myrmobrachys) phytophilus Wheeler, W.M. 1934g: 207 (s.w.q.m.) MEXICO.

Worker
Length 3-3.5mm.

Head trapezoidal, longer than broad, with straight somewhat flattened, anteriorly converging sides and feebly convex posterior border, without a distinct ridge from the posterior corners to the eyes, which are large and very near the latter. Mandibles small, less convex than in the major worker. Clypeus subcarinate. Antennal scapes nearly straight, extending half their length beyond the posterior border of the head. Thorax like that of the major but less convexly arcuate.

Sculpture and pilosity as in the major. Black; legs deep piceous brown or black; tips of mandibles, basal two thirds of antennal scapes and tarsi paler, more yellowish brown.

major Length 4.5-5.3 mm.

Head rounded subrectangular, as broad as long, slightly broader behind than in front, with moderately convex sides and cheeks, rounded posterior corners and straight posterior border. Eyes rather large and fiat, nearly three times their length from the anterior corners of the head. Mandibles convex, stout, with five strong teeth. Clypeus subrectangular, somewhat longer than broad, convex but not carinate in the middle, its anterior border with a rather deep median sinuation flanked on each side by a broad, blunt tooth-like projection. Cheeks large, projecting slightly beyond the anterior border of the clypeus. Frontal carinae rather closely approximated in front, strongly diverging and subparallel behind; frontal groove distinct. Antennae slender; scapes curved at the base, enlarging towards their tips, which extend about twice their greatest diameter beyond the posterior border of the head. Thorax short, with strong, impressed promesonotal suture; in profile evenly arcuate throughout, since the epinotum is low, sloping and rounded, usually with only a faint suggestion of an angle between the base and declivity. Pronotum, without the neck, nearly twice as broad as long, flattened above, with bluntly submarginate sides and rounded humeri; mesonotum nearly as broad as long, rounded on the sides and anteriorly, where it is slightly elevated above the pronotum at the suture; epinotum narrow, longer than broad, subrectangular from above and rounded from side to side. Petiolar scale thick, nodiform in profile, nearly as thick above as below, convex in front and flattened behind; seen from behind rather narrow, broader at the superior border, which is straight and transverse, than below. Gaster broadly elliptical; legs stout.

Subopaque; head and thorax densely punctate; mandibles and posterior corners of head smoother and more shining; gaster and legs slightly more shining than the thorax; anterior half of head more coarsely punctate than the posterior half; clypeus, cheeks and front also with sparse, shallow, piligerous foveolae; petiole and gaster finely, sharply and transversely shagreened; mandibles, legs and scapes superficially shagreened, the mandibles also coarsely and sparsely punctate.

Hairs snow-white, coarse, erect and rather abundant; short, stubby and obtuse on the clypeus, front and cheeks, longer and more pointed on the occiput, thoracic dorsum and gaster, conspicuously long and numerous on the epinotum; short and oblique on the femora and scapes; abundant and almost squamiform on the tibiae.

Black; femora dark brown; scapes, first funicular joint, tibiae and tarsi more reddish.

Queen
Length 5.5-6 mm.

Head resembling that of the minor worker in shape, but larger, with larger, more convex eyes. Clypeus feebly and evenly convex, ecarinate. Thorax narrower than the head, elongate oval, three times as long as broad; mesonotum longer than broad, epinotum short, the base convex and rounded, passing with an even curve into the longer, straight and nearly perpendicular declivity. Petiole like that of the worker forms but even thicker and more nodiform.

Surface of body, especially the occiput, thorax and gaster smoother and more shining; pilosity like that of the major but more abundant, longer on the head. Black; mandibles entirely or only at their tips deep red, as are also the scapes, first funicular joint and tarsi.

Male
Length 3.2 mm.

Head through the large, convex eyes as broad as long, broad and semicircularly rounded behind; ocelli prominent; cheeks slightly concave, subparallel. Mandibles slender, gradually widened at their tips which bear an acute terminal denticle. Clypeus subcarinate. First funicular joint enlarged, pyriform; terminal joints short. Thorax broader than the head, about two and one-half times as long as broad. Mesonotum large, somewhat longer than broad; epinotum in profile evenly rounded, without distinct base and declivity. Petiole much as in the worker minor but somewhat lower, as thick above as below, the superior surface straight and transverse. Gaster small and narrow; legs slender.

Sculpture and pilosity as in the female, but the hairs on the head are long, pointed, and of more uneven length. Black, including the mandibles; legs dark brown; tarsi and funiculi somewhat paler. Wings white, with pale yellow veins and pterostigma.

Type Material
Described from many workers, two females and a male taken from numerous colonies by Dr. Skwarra at Cuernavaca, Morelos (type-locality) in Tillandsia circinata (Nos. 765a, 775, 776, 781, 834, 839a, 842, 848, 849, 855, 856, 866, 870, 871, 876) and Mirador, Vera Cruz in Tillandsia streptophylla (187a) and in stems of Ricinus communis (718).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
 * Wheeler W. M. 1934. Neotropical ants collected by Dr. Elisabeth Skwarra and others. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 77: 157-240.