Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) maculatus (Fabricius)

Type location West Africa (Formica maculata, Fabricius, 1782: 491, worker; Mayr, 1862: 654, queen & male; Donisthorpe, 1915a: 221, redescription of the type); Wheeler (1922) reported the location as "in Africa aequinoctali" adding probably Sierra Leone .

The original Fabricius (1793) description is at . Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau (1835: 213) gave a description, this is at . Mayr (1862: 654) gave a further description which is at .

Listing as in Bolton (1995: 109) - see varieties catalogue

Type form maculatus s.s.

Present subspecies:
foveolatus (Stitz, 1925: 125, soldier & worker) from the Philippines;
humilior (Forel, 1902h: 497, soldier & worker; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 116) from Australia;
miserabilis (possibly replaced by proletaria) (Santschi, 1914d: 379, soldier & worker) from Guinea, from Kindia, F. Silvestri);
obfuscatus (Viehmeyer, 1916a: 154, soldier & worker) from Singapore;
strangulatus (Santschi, 1911e: 129, illustrated, soldier, worker & queen) from Madagascar;
subnudus (Emery, 1889b: 51, soldier & worker; Forel, 1913k: 125, queen) from Burma;
sylvaticomaculatus (Dalla Torre, 1893: 241, worker) from Greece;
ugandensis (Santschi, 1923e: 292, worker) from Uganda.

Junior synonyms: = synonymy by Baroni Urbani (1972: 125). Baroni Urbani's multiple synonymization (1972: 123 ff) of the many so-called varieties of maculatus was presented with very few details of his actual study of specimens, although he noted he had seen the specimens in Basel and Parigi, as well as material in London.
atramentarius (Forel, 1904b: 379, worker; Forel, 1910f: 26, queen) and erythraea (Emery, 1920c: 14, soldier) from Ethiopia;
ballioni (Forel, 1904d: 176, worker & queen), boera (Forel, 1910f: 27; Santschi, 1925h: 166, soldier, worker & queen), cognata (Smith, F., 1858b: 35, soldier & worker: Mayr, 1862: 655, queen & male), intonsus (Emery 1905d: 29, footnote, soldier & worker), lacteipennis (Smith F., 1858b: 34, all forms), liocnemis (Emery, 1905d, footnote, soldier & worker; Santschi, 1914e: 38, queen & male) and mathildae (Forel, 1910c: 266, soldier, worker & queen) from South Africa;
cavallus (Santschi, 1911g: 211, soldier, worker & queen) and hieroglyphicus (Santschi, 1917b: 290, soldier, worker & queen) from Angola;
cluisoides (Forel, 1913h: 354, soldier & worker), sarmentus (Emery, 1920c: 14, illustrated, soldier & worker) and semispicatus (Emery, 1920c: 5, worker) from Kenya;
conakryensis (Emery, 1920c: 13, soldier & worker) from Guinea;
flavifemur (Santschi, 1937g: 84, worker & queen) from Tanzania;
flavominor (maculatus st melanocnemis var flavominor, Santschi, 1920i: 4, footnote, worker; Emery, 1925b: 87, soldier & worker) from Benin;
hannae (Santschi, 1919a: 349, illustrated, soldier & worker) and manzer (Forel, 1910e: 452, soldier) from Zimbabwe;
liengmei (Forel, 1894b: 67, soldier & worker; Forel, 1907g: 88, male) from Mozambique;
lividior (Santschi, 1911e; 128, all forms) from Comoro Is.;
lohieri (Emery, 1915g: 22, worker) from Ivory Coast (at Jacqueville, by Lohier);
melanocnemis (H. Pobeguin, in Santschi, 1911c: 368, soldier; Santschi, 1915c: 278, worker: raised to subspecies by Forel, 1915, with its junior synonym schultzei, Forel, 1912j: 179, soldier, worker & male) from Uganda;
nubis (Weber, 1943c: 385, illustrated, soldier & worker) and sudanicus (Weber, 1943c: 385, soldier & worker; synonymy by Baroni Urbani 1972: 125) from Sudan;
radamoides (Forel, 1891b: 213, soldier & worker) from Madagascar;
schereri (Forel, 1911e: 289, worker & queen) from Liberia, at Nebena, by Scherer;
thomensis (Santschi, 1920i: 3, soldier, worker & male) from São Tomé I.;
tuckeri (Santschi, 1932a: 391, soldier, worker & male) from Namibia;
zumpti (Santschi, 1937b: 103, worker) from Cameroun

Unavailable names:;
calceatus (Santschi, 1930b: 76, soldier & worker) and cluis (Forel, 1909b: 67, worker) from Angola;
cataractae (Santschi, 1919b: 239, soldier & worker), contaminatus (Santschi, 1917b: 291, soldier & worker), diffusus (Santschi, 1917b: 292, soldier & worker) and georgei (Santschi, 1923e: 290, illustrated, soldier & worker) from Zimbabwe;
citinus (Santschi, 1930b: 77, footnote, soldier & worker) and pessimus (Wheeler, 1922: 235) from Zaïre;
cognato-maculatus (Forel, 1889: 255; name used in Forel, 1886f: 19, two workers from Kakoma, "Equatorial Africa" (in Congo or Kenya?) but in 1889 specimens were from Cycads in Greece!
hansingi (Forel, 1910e: 452, soldier) from Mozambique (also South Africa);
importunoides (Forel, 1914d: 249, soldier & worker) from South Africa;
incommoda (Forel, 1914d: 250, worker) from South Africa;
madecassa (Emery, 1905d: 30, footnote, worker) from Madagascar.

Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) maculatus sensu stricto

Nigeria specimens (Taylor, 1978: 9).
MAJOR. TL 14.0 mm, HL 3.99, HW 3.86, SL 3.29, PW 2.22
MINOR. TL 9.50 mm, HL 2.24, HW 1.31, SL 3.11, PW 1.37
Colour orange to dark red-brown, darkest on gaster but characteristically lateral light patches on tergites 1 to 3, shiny. Erect coarse hairs long but sparse, and very sparse pilosity. Declivity of propodeum smoothly rounded. Petiole a rounded node in the minor but sharper in the major.
Common form at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre.

The specimens sent to me from Cameroon and shown in the photomontages match the Nigeria specimens exactly. Wheeler (1922) referred to the description by Donisthorpe of the "Fabrician type in the Banks Collection" and noted that specimens collected by Lang & Chapin at several Congo locations "agree perfectly" but "have a few short erect hairs on the gular surface of the head". I do not recall seeing any gular hairs on the CRIN specimens and there are none on the Cameroon examples. I have to conclude that what I drew and the Cameroon specimens represent the C. maculatus sensu stricto and that specimens with gular hairs are of a related species.

I have transcribed Donisthorpe's description or rather re-description of the type specimen on the linked page - Camponotus maculatus and the Cameroun specimens are a perfect match in all aspects.

The photomontages here are of specimens collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 99 from location Kribi, 15 April 2001, in herbaceous vegetation about 20 cm tall, in garden of the Catholic Mission.

Other images of the type form can be seen in the folders at - from Cameroun . From Ghana a major, with very reduced pale areas on the gaster and minor . From Benin, major & minor. From Mali, Bamako, collected by David M King (minor) and major & minor, with generally pale head and alitrunk, . From the Central African Republic, a major with an almost wholly dark gaster and near black head at .

Note that the specimens shown in these folders show quite high consistency in the major workers but the minor workers vary quite a lot in their colour and surface texture, most noticeably on the alitrunk. the type form major appears to have distinctive smooth deep red mandibles.

Distribution Notes

Wheeler (1922) lists findings from Senegal (Dakar, by C. Allauaud), Guinea (schereri from Kakoulima, F. Silvestri), Nigeria (Oni Camp near Lagos, W.A. Lamborn; schereri from Olokemeji, F. Silvestri), Cameroun (Duala, by von Rothkirch) and many others from across all of Africa and the Old World tropics. He had brief notes on some of the subspecies and varieties found in the Ants of Congo expedition - viz-
subspecies guttatus - a pale subspecies found at Zambi
subspecies melanocnemis from Yakuluka, several colonies
subspecies congolensis numerous specimens from Yakuluku, Faradje and Medje
subspecies miserabilis, new variety pessimus - major TL only 6-6.5 mm, minor TL 5-5.5 mm, as miserabilis but much smaller.

Bernard (1952) noted how most of the African Tanaemyrmex had at some time been wrongly assigned to maculatus, a very common species, with 52 forms descibed from tropical Africa. Following Emery, the species seemed to originate in western Africa but had spread to all humid areas of the continent, also Madagascar and the Sahara.

From Guinea, Bernard (1952) related how the variety melanocnemis Santschi, common to Gabon, appeared the most frequent in the Nimba collections, especially at low altitude (Nion, N'Zo, Kéoulenta, Yalanzou), rarer in forest (sites B8-10, Zouépo and T199), again common at the Mount Tô crest at 1600 m; numerous workers and several males and queens having been found. Subspecies atramentarius Forel, was rare, one worker at Yalanzou, one queen at Pierré-Richard (900 m); entirely black form. Variety semispicata Santschi, Mount Tô, one worker.

A common ground ant in Nigeria, at CRIN on 2.5% of cocoa, which often ascends cocoa trees to tend aphids, but does not build tents (Booker, 1968; Taylor, 1977). It was not among the commoner species in our 76-farm survey, however, but Eguagie (1971) also reported it from Ilugun and Olokomeji in the Ibadan area.

From Ghana, as Camponotus melanocnemis in a cocoa canopy sample, by Room (1971). Found in cocoa at Kade, as sp. (maculatus group) by Majer (1975). Four workers were collected on the ground under Amelonado cocoa at CRIG by Bigger (1981a). Belshaw & Bolton (1994b) collected only two workers at Bunso and Nankasi, as 'tourists' in leaf litter under cocoa.

Listed as a savannah species in Ivory Coast by Lévieux & Louis (1975). They also described it as typically nocturnal with peak activity around five hours after sunset (at 2100 hours). Lévieux (as Camponotus lohieri, 1978, 1983a), noted its presence in savannah, at Ferkéssédougo, where it was preyed on by Myrmicaria opaciventris (as nitidans).

Baroni Urbani (1976) described the occurrence, in Tunisia, of intermediates between major and minor workers, separable by the antennal length.

In addition to maculatus as described above there were two, if not more, very similar species in the CRIN collection, notably Camponotus species A which is quite large, but the few specimens were in poor condition.