The Ants of Africa

The Ants of Africa
Genus Camponotus subgenus Tanaemyrmex
Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) hova Forel

maculatus species-group
TL 8-10-12 mm plus; alitrunk profile convex in a smooth elongated curve, propodeal declivity not or poorly separable from dorsum, if the latter always much shorter than dorsum; petiole scale of major cuneiform, with convex anterior face and quite sharp dorsal margin; mostly bicoloured with alitrunk lighter and distinct light areas on gaster; dimorphic (?) minors with head narrowed posteriorly but not dramatically so and without any "neck".

Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) hova Forel

Type location Madagascar (C. rubripes r maculatus var hova, Forel, 1886f: 150, unavailable name, soldier, worker & queen, Forel, 1891b: 35; raised to species by Dalla Torre, 1893: 235); subspecies becki (C. maculatus r radamae var becki n var, Forel, 1914d: 251, worker, Santschi, 1923e: 292) from Madagascar, boivini (Forel, 1891b: 34, worker & queen; 213, male) from Madagascar, fairmairei (Santschi, 1911e: 130, illustrated, worker) from Madagascar, fulvus (Emery, 1894a: 72, soldier, worker & queen) from Seychelles, hovahovoides (Forel, 1892l: 232, worker, soldier & queen) from Madagascar, hovoides (Dalla Torre, 1893: 249, all forms - this is not a description but simply use of the Forel 1891b: 33 name - Camponotus radamae var hovoides n. var) from Madagascar, mixtellus (Forel, 1891b: 433; Dalla Torre, 1893: 249, soldier & worker; Forel, 1912k: 165, queen & male) from Madagascar, obscuratus (Forel, 1907g: 89; Emery, 1925b: 85 [list only], worker & male) from Madagascar, pictiventris (Mayr, 1901b: 28, soldier & worker) from South Africa, and radamae (Forel, 1891b: 31, illustrated, soldier & worker) from Madagascar; unavailable names altior (Santschi, 1923e: 292, worker) from Madagascar; immaculifrons (Santschi, 1919a: 349, worker) from South Africa; luteolous (Forel, 1897c: 202, worker; Emery, 1925b: 85) from Madagascar; octomaculata (Forel, 1910e: 452, worker) from South Africa; most synonymy by Dalla Torre and later Emery (1925b: 825): all forms known (see Bolton, 1995) .

The plethora of names is due to the usual Forel shambles of reluctance to name new species but rather define varieties, stirps, etc.
Forel's (1886f) description is at .
Forel's (1891b) full description (illustration unavailable) is at .
Forel's (1891b) short description of boivini is at .
Forel's (1891b) description of radamae, with variety mixtellus is at .
Forel's (1891b) short description of hovoides is at .
Forel (1892l: 232) simply states hova-hovoides all forms are intermediate between the race hova and the variety hovoides of C. radamae but closer to C. hova, the male TL 9 mm, it is brownish black.
Forel (1897c) note on luteolous is a minimal description).
Emery's (1894b) description of fulvus is at .
Mayr's (1901b) description of pictiventris major is at with the minor at .
Forel's (1907g) description of obscuratus is at .
Forel's (1910e) description of octomaculatus is at .
Santschi's (1911e) description of fairmairei is at .
Forel's (1914d) description of becki is at .
Santschi's (1919a) description of immaculifrons is at .
Arnold (1922: 629 ff) provided translations as varieties of maculatus; this is at .
Santschi's (1923e) description of becki var altior is at .

{Camponotus hova varieties} From Santschi's (1911e) illustration of minors, it seems likely that radamae, together with strangulatus, which is listed as a subspecies of maculatus (see below), are distinct species from within the pompeius-group.

{short description of image} The photomontage is collated from the Antweb.org site at http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0101099

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