A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Author
Wild, Alexander L.
text
Zootaxa
2007
1622
1
55
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.179222
9584df9a-a4a2-49bb-a256-cb99776f4dc8
1175-5326
179222
Camponotus sexguttatus
(Fabricius 1793)
.
Formica sexguttata
Fabricius 1793: 354
.
Camponotus sexguttatus
(Fabricius)
. Mayr 1862: 656.
Camponotus sexguttatus
var.
fusciceps
Emery 1906: 192
.
NEW SYNONYMY.
[
syntype
w examined, MHNG; Mato Grosso,
Brazil
].
Camponotus
(
Myrmosphincta
)
sexguttatus
(Fabricius)
. Forel 1912e: 92.
Camponotus
(
Myrmosphincta
)
sexguttatus
var.
fusciceps
Emery. Wheeler 1916: 14
.
Camponotus sexguttatus
is a common ant throughout the neotropics, particularly in disturbed or edge habitats, that has accumulated an unfortunate number of infraspecific taxa. These names usually pertain to
minor
color differences. While
C. sexguttatus
in the broad sense may actually contain a number of cryptic species over the full range of the group, there is little chance that the current haphazard assortment of subspecies and varieties accurately represents them. Literature records from
Paraguay
include both
C. sexguttatus
(Forel 1906, Forel 1907b [as “
bimaculatus
”], Kempf 1972) and
C.sexguttatus
var.
fusciceps
(Emery 1906, Kempf 1972). Examination of the specimens at MHNG on which the records are based shows both to belong to the single common species that I have been calling
C. sexguttatus
. A proper taxonomic study may eventually show that the forms from subtropical South
America
should have a different name, as the
type
of
C. sexguttatus
is Antillean in origin, far to the north.