The Ants of Africa

	The Ants of Africa Genus Camponotus subgenus Myrmosaga
Genus Camponotus

Subgenus Myrmosaga Forel (1912i: 92) - simply reads (my translation) "propodeum as a saddle"

Subgenus definition - dorsum of propodeum concave, rest of alitrunk convex not margined; smallish, most shining; rather like Tanaemyrmex but more robust; clypeus carinate with short anterior lobe, mandibles usually with six teeth;
Apparently also with the scapes and legs cylindrical; petiole scale varied from squamose to low and nodiform.

Bolton (1995: 131) has three species from eastern & southern Africa. There is an odd situation, however, as the type species was designated by Forel as Camponotus kelleri Forel (1886f: 186) from Madagascar, but that was placed in subgenus Mayria by Emery (1925b: 123). The only two other species placed in Myrmosaga now are both from Australia (aflatus and ezotus). Bolton (1995: 38) noted "provisional junior synonym of Camponotus, Brown (1973b: 182), unconfirmed".

Prins (1973) noted that his placement of namacolus and sellidorsatus in Mayria was provisional and, having sighted the species of C. (Mayria) from Madagascar, I have transferred the four species listed in that subgenus by Bolton (1995: 131) to here - Camponotus (Myrmosaga) dewitzii Forel - Angola, Camponotus (Myrmosaga) namacolus Prins - Namibia, Camponotus (Myrmosaga) schoutedeni Forel - Cameroun, Congo Basin, Angola, East Africa and Camponotus (Myrmosaga) sellidorsatus Prins - Namibia. I include one Madagascar species transferred from Mayria for comparative purposes - Camponotus (Myrmosaga) quadrimaculatus Forel.

Key to species

1	Petiole scale like with a narrow profile	2
--	Petiole a low node with vertical faces and a rounded dorsum	4
2	General colour brown and rusty-red; MINOR only known - TL 4.3 mm; pilosity fine long and yellowish, most abundant on head and gaster; coxae yellow, ventral gaster & legs reddish yellow	Zimbabwe - favorabilis
--	General colour black	3
3	MAJOR TL 8.5 mm; matt black, base of scapes, genae, tibia & tarsi reddish, gaster segments feebly bordered with yellow MINOR TL 4.8 mm; head slightly convex posteriorly, slightly longer than wide, sides weakly convex; scape surpasses occiput by more than one-third its own length	Kenya - jeanneli
--	MAJOR TL 5.6 mm; pronotum transversely flat; fairly shiny black, clypeus & mandibles dark reddish-brown, tarsi & funiculi reddish, scapes brown MINOR TL ca 3.5 mm; head quite strongly convex posteriorly, slightly longer than wide, sides weakly convex; scape surpasses occiput by more than one-third its own length	Kenya & Tanzania - mombassae
--	Petiole a low node with vertical faces and a rounded dorsum	--
4	MINOR only known - TL 5.0-5.17 mm; pale brick-red to brownish all over	Namibia - namacolus
--	Predominantly dark brown to black	5
5	MINOR only known - TL 7.1 mm; clypeus convex but only very feebly carinate; head and alitrunk densely reticulo-punctate & matt; black but gaster bronzy	Angola - dewitzii
--	Minor TL < 5.5 mm	6
6	MINOR only known - TL 5.0-5.4 mm; finely sculptured and moderately shiny; brownish-black; antennae, tarsi and mandibles more brownish, petiole peduncle and apical margins of gaster paler or testaceous all over	Namibia - sellidorsatus
--	MINOR TL maximum 4.5 mm	7
7	MAJOR - TL 6.5 mm; MINOR - TL 3.8-4 mm; mandibles with six teeth; clypeus with distinct but not sharply defined median carina; scape surpassing the occiput by less than half its length; pronotum with rounded margins; with only sparse and quite short erect hairs Both almost completely shiny dark brown, mandibles and antennae testaceous; legs brown	Cameroun, Congo Basin, Angola, East Africa - schoutedeni
--	MINOR only known - TL 4.0-4.5 mm; clypeus with sharply defined medina carina; scape surpassing occiput by about 2/3 its own length; pronotum with sharp margins; with quite numerous long white erect hairs; very shiny black; mandibles and antennae orange-brown	Namibia & Gabon - callmorphus

Genus page

href="myrmosaga.htm"