Camponotus dromas

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus (Myrmocamelus) dromas Santschi, 1919a: 332 (s.w.m.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
 * [Misspelled as dromus by Emery, 1925b: 111.]
 * Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Emery, 1925b: 111; Santschi, 1928e: 481.
 * Status as species: Emery, 1925b: 111; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 113; Taylor, 1987a: 12; Bolton, 1995b: 97; McArthur, 2007a: 317; Heterick, 2009: 65; McArthur, 2014: 102.

Description
Workers length 9-12 mm. Major worker length 12mm. Front of head and mandibles dark red. Top of pronotum and mesonotum and all of the gaster black. The remainder is red. The sculpture as in pellax, bigenus and capito Mayr, but the punctation of the vertex is more sparse than in the case of pellax except behind the eyes. The vertex is smooth and very glossy. The piligerous punctation of the thorax is intermediate between pellax and bigenus with a bottom base of fine reticulation and sub matte (except for the declivity). Gaster a little more glossy with fine transverse striations. Pilosity erect and sparse, a little more abundant than pellax, but much less than bigenus. The pubescence is rather thin everywhere except on the sides of the thorax and epinotum where it forms a pelise not hiding the sculpture The head is square (3.5 X 3.5 mm) shaped like capito Mayr, the vertex is very concave, the clypeus is not keeled and the lobe is indented. Mandibles with 5 teeth. Posterior border straight more convex in front than pellax. The profile of the thorax is similar to bigenus but the base of the epinotum is more elongated, one quarter longer than the declivity. The node is higher and more pointed and about 3 times higher than wide, convex from top to bottom in front and flat behind. Posterior tibias 3.4mm long. Scapes 2.1 mm long. Media worker. length 10.5 mm long. Color as in the worker major, but the occiput is black, so is the promesonotum. Sculpture as in the major worker, the thorax appears more dull because of the pubescence which extends up to and on to the dorsum. It is equally more abundant on the gaster. Head rectangular, a little more narrow at the front, 2.6 mm X 2.1 mm wide, sides a little convex. The eyes are at the posterior third of the head. The extremity of the frontal ridges is more converging. The clypeus is distinctly keeled, the lobe is almost transverse at the front and crenulated with 6 denticles. The pronotum descends at the front in a rather strong oblique slope forming an angle of 140 degrees with the surface of the mesonotum. The latter is more elevated in front than the suture. No trace of a metanotal suture. The epinotum is lower than the mesonotum. The basal face is slightly concave and is 5/3 longer than the declivity with which it unites through an open curve with an angle of about 150 degrees. The node oval with blunt edges, the anterior face strongly convex from top to bottom its length equal to twice its width. The posterior face a little convex in all directions. Posterior tibias 3.3mm long. Minor worker Length 9 mm. Black with a steel blue sheen on the head and thorax with the gaster slightly greenish. The mandibles, antennae, limbs, declivity of the epinotum and the node red. The anterior femurs are darker in the middle, those of the other two pairs are lighter. Very finely reticulate and shagreen. The occiput, front and fore part of the mesonotum are very glossy and more weakly sculptured than the rest which in part is hidden by dense grayish pubescence on the head and thorax, greenish yellow on the gaster. The pilosity as in the case of the media worker but more whitish. The head rectangular almost as wide in front as behind, the sides and occiput straight. The eyes are at the posterior fifth of the sides. The frontal carinae diverge more than ephippium but less than pellax. The clypeus is keeled along all its length, the posterior border is arched with some denticles. The thorax is strongly convex in front. The pronotum descends more strongly than in the case of the media worker, the mesonotum is convex in profile and is more elevated in front than the strong pronotal suture. The other sutures obsolete and the basal face elongated and rather concave and twice the length of the declivity. The node as in the media worker scarcely lower. Scape length 2.5mm, tibia length 3.7mm Queensland: Townsville (F P Dodd leg)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Andersen A. N., B. D. Hoffmann, W. J. Muller, and A. D. Griffiths. 2002. Using ants as bioindicators in land management: simplifying assesment of ant community responses. Journal of Applied Ecology 39: 8-17.
 * Andersen A. N., B. D. Hoffmann, and S. Oberprieler. 2016. Diversity and biogeography of a species-rich ant fauna of the Australian seasonal tropics. Insect Science DOI 10.1111/1744-7917.12402
 * Andersen A. N., J. C. Z. Woinarski, and B. Hoffman. 2004. Biogeography of the ant fauna of the Tiwi Islands, in northern Australia's moonsoonal tropics. Australian Journal of Zoology 52: 97-110.
 * Andersen, Alan N., John C.Z. Woinarski and Ben D. Hoffman. 2004. Biogeography of the ant fauna of the Tiwi Islands, in northern Australia's monsoonal tropics. Australian Journal of Zoology 52: 97-110.
 * Heterick B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1-206.
 * 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.