Pseudocolobopsis

False Cork-head Ants

NOTE: As of 19 February 2017, specimens of Camponotus macrocephalus Emery and Colobopsis macrocephala (Erichson) are intermingled on AntWeb; therefore, the type image for this page is incorrect. Please await further updates, or study the material imaged on AntWeb for resolution.

Diagnosis. Emery (1925). - "Worker, soldier, and queen. - Species usually small; caste dimorphism very pronounced; generally without intermediates between worker and soldier; body of queen narrow and elongate. Head of soldier and queen elongate or very elongate, with lateral margins more-or-less parallel, obliquely truncate anteriorly, as in extreme species of Myrmaphaenus, or little or not truncate and with anterior margin slightly depressed. Head of minors generally consistent throughout subgenus, but in C. tonduzi, Forel, head very elongate and narrowing posteriorly as cone, similar to Hypercolobopsis. Clypeus of soldiers narrow, carinate, convex or flat following the species, generally less produced anteriorly than cheeks; in some species (ulei group), clypeus more-or-less produced as short lobe and truncate. Clypeus of minors like Myrmaphaenus. Frontal carinae, mesosoma, and petiole as in Myrmaphaenus. Cuticle in general shiny; sometimes anterior portion of head roughly sculptured in soldiers and queens.

Geographical distribution of species. - Almost identical to Myrmaphaenus."

(Translated and edited by B. E. Boudinot, 19 February 2017.)

Note: McArthur & Shattuck (2001) published a key to the species of the Camponotus macrocephalus group of Australia; this species (Erichson, 1842) and its relatives have been transferred to Colobopsis forming 'Colobopsis macrocephala.

Pseudocolobopsis is a subgenus of Camponotus

Species groups of Pseudocolobopsis
Emery (1925) defined two species groups of Pseudocolobopsis, which he defined as follows:

Group I: macrocephalus

Diagnosis. - Soldier and queen. - Head obtuse and more-or-less anteriorly truncate; anterior clypeal margin without lobe, in general clypeus not as produced anteriorly as the cheeks.

Groups II: ulei

Diagnosis. - Soldier and queen. - Head more-or-less depressed anteriorly; clypeus with a short, truncate lobe. Transitional, at least apparently, to Myrmoturba."

Nomenclature

 *  PSEUDOCOLOBOPSIS [subgenus of Camponotus]
 * Pseudocolobopsis Emery, 1920b: 249 [as subgenus of Camponotus]. Type-species: Camponotus macrocephalus, by original designation.