Camponotus ebneri

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Lebanon.

Nomenclature

 *  ebneri. Camponotus (Myrmentoma) lateralis var. ebneri Finzi, 1930c: 24 (w.) LEBANON.
 * Subspecies of lateralis: Bolton, 1995b: 97.
 * Junior synonym of piceus: Radchenko, 1997b: 706.
 * Status as species: Seifert, 2019: 15.

Taxonomic Notes
Seifert (2019) - This taxon has been described as Camponotus lateralis var. ebneri Finzi 1930 from the region of Beskinta to Dsebel Sanin in Lebanon. I examined the single type worker hosted in. It is labeled ‘Beskinta – Sannin, Liban. 16.VIII.’28. R. Ebner Mus. Caes. Vind.’, ‘Type ! Camponotus lateralis var. ebneri n.v. det. Finzi 1929’, ‘ANTWEB CASENT0915596’. The specimen is not ‘ganz schwarz’ as Finzi stated: the lateral pronotum is reddish and meso- and metapleuron reddish black. The taxon appears closely related to Camponotus dalmaticus. The type specimen of C. ebneri is allocated to the C. dalmaticus cluster when run as wild-card in an LDA considering the complete character set and all other entities listed in Tab. 2 and Tab. 3. Yet, a synonymization with C. dalmaticus appears premature due to the apparently disjunct distribution and because the data of PrW/CS1.25 and nPr1.25 are outside the range known for C. dalmaticus (Tab. 3). It is hypothesized here to represent an allopatric sister species.