Camponotus chloroticus EMERY , 1897

Ronald M. Clouse, Benjamin D. Blanchard, Rebecca Gibson, Ward C. Wheeler & Milan Janda, 2016, Taxonomic updates for some confusing Micronesian species of Camponotus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae), Myrmecological News 23, pp. 139-152 : 144-147

Camponotus chloroticus EMERY, 1897

( Figs. 15 ­ 20 ; Tabs. 2 , 3)

Camponotus maculatus ssp. chloroticus EMERY, 1897 .

Combination in Camponotus (Myrmoturba), as Camponotus (Myrmoturba) maculatus chlorotica var. chlorogaster : EMERY, 1914.

Camponotus (Myrmoturba) maculatus pallidus var. samoensis SANTSCHI, 1919, unavailable name. Homonym of Camponotus irritans samoensis (SMITH, 1857).

Camponotus (Myrmoturba) maculatus ssp. sanctae crucis MANN, 1919.

Subspecies of Camponotus irritans: EMERY 1920.

Combination in Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex): EMERY 1925.

Subspecies of Camponotus irritans: KARAVAIEV 1933.

Raised to species: WILSON& TAYLOR 1967.

Comments: Camponotus chloroticus was originally de­

scribed by EMERY (1897) as a subspecies of C. macula­

tus, as follows:"I bought from Godeffroy Museum[Hamburg, 1861 ­ 1885] specimens of this form from the Tonga Islands and New Britain, under the name C. pallidus. … For the shape of the various parts of the body, for the pubescence, the very weak sculpture and the hairs, it is very close to the C. Kubaryi, MAYR[specific epithet capitalized in original], particularly the oceanic specimens and those from New Guinea. … Maximum size is 8 mm; reddish­yellow, dirt­like color; head darker and more red, abdomen more or less blackish in its rear."

We do not know which aspects of the pilosity EMERY noticed as being similar to that of Camponotus kubaryi stat. rev., but the presence of standing hairs on the proximal hind femur and on the propleuron in both species is one of the few readily discernable synapomorphies of an important clade of Camponotus in the Pacific and one of the key characters used to distinguish C. chloroticus from C. micronesicus . Using this pilosity character, overall similarity in size, shape, and coloration, as well as our finding of only one such yellow Camponotus species in the same islands, we confirm here that the Tongan syntypes of C. chloroticus ( Figs. 15, 16 ) match the species in Clade IV, which extends from New Guinea to Polynesia ( Fig. 2).

The Camponotus chloroticus syntype from Irupara, New Guinea ( Figs. 17 ­ 20 ), is not as clearly aligned with the Tongan syntypes or modern specimens from the Polynesian, Fijian, and Melanesian clade, partially due to its mounting, which limits our view of the important pilosity characters. However, the New Guinean syntype has distinctly shorter scapes than almost all C. micronesicus sp.n. specimens measured, measuring just at the lower limit of the range, and producing a scape index for the New Guinea syntype that is smaller than all C. micronesicus specimens measured but within the range for C. chloroticus . The petiole length of the New Guinean syntype is also similar to that of C. chloroticus specimens, and altogether we have more support for it being C. chloroticus than C. micronesicus sp.n. Other options for the identity of the New Guinean syntype include an undescribed from, or, if it is truly missing the hind femur and propleuron standing hairs, an oddly concolorous C. humilior (which tends to be bicolorous); C. novaehollandiae is too large, also usually bicolorous, and, from our PCA analysis, slightly different in shape.

To the original description we add a summary of our morphological observations of this species, combining syntypes and modern specimens, as follows (also see Tabs. 2 , 3). Majors: EL 0.48 (range 0.40 ­ 0.51), EW 0.36 (0.25 ­ 0.40), FCL 1.14 (1.00 ­ 1.31), HL 2.22 (1.8 5 ­ 2.40), HW 2.00 (1.45 ­ 2.25), ML 2.69 (2.38 ­ 2.85), MTL 1.68 (1.44 ­ 2.10), PH 0.74 (0.59 ­ 0.81), PL 0.58 (0.43 ­ 0.75), SL 1.65 (1.44 ­ 1.85); CI 90 (78 ­ 9 5), SI 83 (73 ­ 124). Mesosoma light yellow, gaster same color as mesosoma or slightly darker, head color usually darker than mesosoma; head tapering, vertex usually slightly concave; hind femur and propleuron with standing hairs. Minors: EL 0.42 (0.38 ­ 0.55), EW 0.33 (0.30 ­ 0.40), FCL 1.0 4 (0.90 ­ 1.40), HL 1.66 (1.55 ­ 2.10), HW 1.28 (1.18 ­

1.60), ML 2.39 (2.20 ­ 3.05), MTL 1.58 (1.31 ­ 1.95), PH

0.62 (0.50 ­ 0.75), PL 0.57 (0.50 ­ 0.70), SL 1.80 (1.45 ­ 2.45); CI 77 (74 ­ 82), SI 142 (123 ­ 154). Mesosoma usually light yellow, gaster and head usually same color as mesosoma or slightly darker; head tapering, vertex convex and occipital carina present; hind femur and propleuron with standing hairs.

Figures

Figs. 11 ­ 16: Syntypes of Camponotus kubaryi stat. rev. (11 ­ 12; CASENT 0904012 and CASENT 091015 3, from www. AntWeb. org, photographs by Zach Lieberman), holotype of C. micronesicus sp. n. (13), specimen of C. kubaryi stat. rev. collected from Peliliu Is. (14; CASENT 01 73088, from www. AntWeb. org, photograph by April Nobile), and syntypes of C. chloroticus from New Guinea (15) and Tonga (16). Scale bar in Fig. 13 applicable to Figures 11 ­ 16.

Figs. 17 ­ 20: Syntype of Camponotus chloroticus from New Guinea in frontal (17), lateral (18), and dorsal (19) views, and the original locality label (20).