A revised phylogenetic classification of the ant subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with resurrection of the genera Colobopsis and Dinomyrmex
Author
Ward, Philip S.
Author
Blaimer, Bonnie B.
Author
Fisher, Brian L.
text
Zootaxa
2016
4072
3
343
357
journal article
51665
10.11646/zootaxa.4072.3.4
032c9ceb-f905-482c-a67e-9f70facbb902
1175-5326
264543
A358F7A0-12B8-401D-B6FE-ADBF1469B786
Camponotus
Mayr 1861
Type
species:
Formica ligniperda
, designated by
Bingham (1903: 347)
. For generic synonymy see
Bolton (2003)
and AntCat (2015).
As
a result of new phylogenetic findings we institute the following genus-level changes to
Camponotus
.
1
Forelophilus
Kutter
(
type
species
Forelophilus overbecki
, by monotypy) is demoted to subgenus (
stat. n.
) under
Camponotus
, creating the following
new combinations
in
Camponotus
:
overbecki
,
philippinensis
,
stefanschoedli
. One of these new combinations,
C. overbecki
(Kutter)
, becomes a secondary junior homonym, here replaced with
C. javaensis
(
nom. n.
).
2
Phasmomyrmex
Stitz
(
type
species
Phasmomyrmex sericeus
(=
P. buchneri
), by monotypy) is demoted to subgenus (
stat. rev.
) under
Camponotus
, creating the following
revived combinations
(unless noted as new) in
Camponotus
:
aberrans
,
buchneri
,
buchneri griseus
(
comb. n.
),
paradoxus
(
comb. n.
),
paradoxus
cupreus
(
comb. n.
),
wolfi
. One of these new combinations,
C. buchneri griseus
(Santschi)
, becomes a secondary junior homonym, here replaced with
C. buchneri camerounensis
(
nom. n.
). The two erstwhile subgenera of
Phasmomyrmex
,
Myrmorhachis
Forel
and
Myrmacantha
Emery
, are here treated as junior synonyms (
syn. n.
) of
Camponotus
(
Phasmomyrmex
)
.
3 The subgenera
Colobopsis
Mayr
and
Dinomyrmex
Ashmead
are removed from
Camponotus
, and treated as separate genera (see below). The
Camponotus
subgenus
Myrmogonia
Forel
becomes a junior synonym of
Colobopsis
.
With these changes
Camponotus
now comprises 45 valid subgenera (including the nominate subgenus), with three losses (
Colobopsis
,
Dinomyrmex
,
Myrmogonia
; see below) and two gains (
Forelophilus
,
Phasmomyrmex
).
As
others have commented (
Bolton 1995
), many of the
Camponotus
subgenera are poorly defined and undoubtedly represent artificial groupings (
Brady
et al.
2000
;
Clouse
et al.
2015
). Nevertheless, until a global revision of the genus is carried out, we prefer to retain the subgeneric classification—at least some of the groups are distinctive and evidently monophyletic, and thus serve to keep clusters of closely related species together.