Camponotus (Myrmobrachys) heathi Mann, 1916

Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex & Troya, Adrian, 2022, Ants of Ecuador: new species records for a megadiverse country in South America, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20210089) 66 (2), pp. 1-15 : 4

Camponotus (Myrmobrachys) heathi Mann, 1916

Figs. 5 , 21B

Material examined. Ecuador. Orellana: Parque Nacional Yasuní, 32 Km SSE Limoncocha , Km 39 Pompeya sur, 1.29444°S, 76.0608°W, 216m, 2☿, 1995-10-07, Erwin, T. et al., fogging, ( MEPN); Parque Nacional Yasuní, -1.2944, -76.0608, 216m, 1☿, 2014-02-01, Troya, A., ( MEPN) .

Comments. This uncommonly collected species is easily recognizable from other Neotropical Camponotus since it bears two ubiquitous propodeal spines: the first located anteriorly just next to the vestigial metanotal suture, and the other, usually bifurcated apically, located at the dorsal propodeal slope. The petiolar node shows three horizontally equidistant spines, smaller than those on the propodeum. Virtually nothing is known on the biology of C. heathi , except that it is arboreal. P.S. Ward collected one specimen in a fallen Hymenaea (Fabaceae) tree in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (AntWeb, 2021). The presently examined specimens were collected through canopy fogging in Amazonian lowland rain forests. Wheeler (1923) reported a specimen from an unidentified termite nest in the Brazilian Amazonia. The undescribed Camponotus JTL 055 (INB0003605921) (AntWeb, 2021) from Heredia, Costa Rica, may be potentially close to C. heathi . It was previously known from Colombia, Guyana, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (Amazonas, Rondônia, Mato Grosso), ( Mackay and Mackay, 2019; AntWeb, 2021).

Figures

Figure 5 Camponotus heathi Mann (worker, MEPN 34258): A) profile, B) frontal view, C) dorsal view. Images by Vladimir Carvajal and Alex Pazmiño.Scale bars= 1 mm.

Figure 21 Geographic distribution of the species examined in the present study.