Camponotus pellax

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus (Myrmocamelus) pellax Santschi, 1919a: 330 (s.w.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
 * [Camponotus pellax Santschi, 1918e: 63. Nomen nudum.]
 * Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1925b: 112; Santschi, 1928e: 482.
 * Status as species: Emery, 1925b: 112; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 118; Taylor, 1987a: 14; Bolton, 1995b: 116; McArthur, 2014: 172.

Description
Worker major. Length 10.5-11 mm. A relation of C.Capito Mayr. Thorax, node and limbs bright red. Head red at the back and becoming progressively more black towards the front also the mandibles. Gaster and limbs brown with a purple-blue sheen, darker at the back, more or less weakly edged with yellow. Appendages of chestnut brown with a purplish blue. In case of the major worker (10 mm) the violet sheen of the gaster is more prominent and the yellow edges are more distinct. Glossy. The front of the head sub matte,finely reticulate, punctate with large points or little pits which are abundant. The same pits are found on the mandibles but here the spaces between are glossy almost polished. Behind the head the sculpture fades little by little and becomes very glossy although the reticulation remains very distinct with the pits much smaller and more dispersed. The same sculpture is repeated on the thorax but on the mesonotum and epinotum the fine reticulation becomes transverse as on the gaster. Yellow silky hairs sparse on body. Head rectangular 3.1 mm long by 3 mm wide, vertex very convex as in C.capito Mayr. Clypeus without a keel with a demi lobe indented at the front. Promesonotal suture strong, metanotum distinct, but its sutures little marked and form like a declivity at the mesonotum,which is raised from front to back. The epinotum has a long basal face with its surface straight or very slightly concave in profile passing through a wide curve to a short declivity. Node very thick, its sides obliquely truncated from top to bottom and behind is as thick as its base and the height of its anterior face which is oblique at the front. Viewed from the top. the node is doubly thick at the front as long and a third wider in front than behind. Worker 7mm. Red with violet metallic reflections. Gaster metallic green. Clypeus metallic violet. Limbs brown with purplish blue sheen. Tarsi and anterior tibias, antennae of a slightly brownish red. Glossy, finely shagreen. Some 15 long yellowish hairs on the thorax, more on the gaster, a few on the head. A range on the on the internal side of the anterior femurs. The tibias are armed with a double row of hairs or barbs. Pubescence is fine, abundant and adpressed, but not hiding the sculpture, a little longer on the gaster. Head is longer than wide, sides almost straight a little converging at the front. The posterior margin is straight. The eyes almost at the posterior 1/4 quite convex. Frontal ridges much more diverging than C. ephippium Smith, the posterior extremities reach the level of the eyes and are distant from it by their diameter. Clypeus with a keel in its middle half, its anterior border quadridented, with the outside teeth stronger. Mandibles glossy with large elongated points, with 8 teeth. The scape exceeds the posterior border of head by more than half. Pronotum as wide as the head, convex and strongly inclined at the front, more strongly than C tasmani Em.(= Forel). Mesonotum convex, highlighted in front by a strong promesonotum suture. Meso-epinotal suture obsolete, basal face of the epinotum weakly concave in profile, 3 or 4 times longer than the declivity. Node cubic flat in front, convex from right to left behind, obliquely truncated on top, otherwise like the worker major but lower. Gaster small. Townsville, Queensland. (F P Dodd) The worker major establishes some similarity with Iridomyrmex detectus Smith in size color and general aspect. I received both from the same locality. The biological reasons for these resemblances are not yet known.