Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) compressus (Fabricius)

Listing as collated from Bolton (1995: 93):
Type location India (Formica compressa, Fabricius, 1787: 307, worker; F Smith, 1858b: 14, queen & male); senior synonym of indefessa (Formica indefessa, Sykes, 1835: 104, illustrated, worker & queen, Jerdon, 1851: 119) from India; quadrilaterus (Camponotus quadrilaterus n.sp., Roger, 1863a: 136, worker; synonymy Forel, 1892j: 240) from India; callida (Formica callida, F Smith, 1858b: 18, minor; synonymy by Emery, 1925b: 98) from India; subspecies brullei (F Smith 1858b: 35, as replacement name for Formica carinata, Brullé, 1840: 84; subspecies as carinata, Santschi, 1939d: 82) from Canary Islands; cosensis (Camponotus maculatus r sanctus var. cosensis n.var., Forel, 1904c: 20; Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) compressus var. cosensis, Finzi, 1939c; 159, major & minor, records only) from Greece, irakensis (Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) compressus var. irakensis, Menozzi, 1927e: 117, illustrated, major, minor & queen) from Iraq, martensi (Camponotus maculatus subsp martensi, Forel, 1907e: 16, major & minor; Santschi, 1929g: 165, queen) from Algeria, nitens (Camponotus maculatus subsp nitens, Bernard, 1953a: 194, queen) from Algeria, occipitalis (Camponotus maculatus r occipitalis, Stitz, 1917: 352, illustrated, minor) from Algeria, probativus (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) compressus st. probativus, Santschi, 1921d: 73) from Mozambique, pupillus (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) erigens st. magister v. pupillus, Santschi, 1925g: 358; Camponotus (Myrmoturba) compressus st. pupillus, Santschi, 1939d: 83, minor) from Morocco, rectinotus (Camponotus maculatus r samius var. rectinotus, Stitz, 1917: 351; Camponotus compressus st. rectinotus (Santschi, 1921d: 75, minor) from Libya, spahis (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) compressus st. thoracicus var. spahis, Santschi, 1925g: 357, major, queen& male) from Algeria, and symiensis (Camponotus maculatus subsp symiensis, Forel, 1910a: 26, minor; subspecies of compressus, Emery, 1920c:6) from Greece.

Notes 2009. The above list is a typical product of the Forel-inspired great reluctance to define substantive species and instead create trinomial and quadrinomial names. Examination of all the available descriptions and illustrations, together with the fresh specimens from The Maldives, suggest the following separations are sensible.

Indo-Arabian type forms - Revised status:
Type location India (Formica compressa, Fabricius, 1787: 307, worker; F Smith, 1858b: 14, queen & male); senior synonym of indefessa (Formica indefessa, Sykes, 1835: 104, illustrated, worker & queen, Jerdon, 1851: 119) from India; quadrilaterus (Camponotus quadrilaterus n.sp., Roger, 1863a: 136, worker; synonymy Forel, 1892j: 240) from India; callida (Formica callida, F Smith, 1858b: 18, minor; synonymy by Emery, 1925b: 98) from India; irakensis (Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) compressus var. irakensis, Menozzi, 1927e: 117, illustrated, major, minor & queen; synonymy here) from Iraq.

Fabricius's (1787) description is at , the compressus name relates to the thorax (alitrunk). Sykes's (1835) description of the type and callida is at . Jerdon's (1851: 119) description is at . F Smith's (1858b) description, with callida, is at . Roger's (1863a) description of quadrilaterus is at . Forel's (1892j) consideration of the Indian and Arabian-Persian forms is at . Bingham's (1903) illustrated description is at . Menozzi's (1927e) illustrated description of irakensis is at .

The photomontage is of specimens from The Maldives, North Malé Atoll, Ihuru Island, 4°18'36"N 73°25'26"E, 2008, collected by Marco Aita. Collected foraging on the ground. The major specimen appears to exactly match Menozzi's description of irakensis. Bingham gave the sizes as major TL 11-16 mm, minor TL 6-8 mm. Other images, showing four sizes and activity in the location, can be seen on the linked page - Maldives.

This photomontage compares a major from The Maldives, as above, with the Sykes (1835) illustration of Formica indefessa and is a tribute to the quality of the early Drawing by J. O. Westwood.

North African forms - summary list (right) by Santschi (1939d), with the full text at .

Forel's (1907e) description of cosensis is at . Forel's (1907e) description of martensi is at . Forel's (1910a) description of symiensis is at . Stitz's (1917) description of occipitalis is at . Stitz's (1917) description of rectinotus is at . Santschi's (1923e) description of pupillus is at . Santschi's (1925g) description of magister is at . Santschi's (1925g) description of spahis is at . Santschi's (1932f) description of magister tisbestiensis is at . Bernard's (1953a) description of nitens is at .

Camponotus fellah was recognised as a distinct species by Pisarski (1971b: 728). Camponotus thoracicus was revived as a distinct species by Pisarski (1971a: 674; without details). Camponotus oasium was revived as a distinct species by Collingwood (1961a).

The Greek/Aegean forms, cosensis and symiensis appear to be significantly smaller and presumably are likely to be closer to C. fellah as the Middle Eastern/East Mediterranean species.

To deal with the remaining North African forms, as described by Forel (1907e), martensi has the head shape shown by Stitz for occipitalis, i.e. with HL 4.5 > HW 4.0 mm. Santschi (1925g) described magister as closer to C. oasium and generally lighter in colour than occipitalis, with yellowish legs. Sizewise, magister has HL 4.3-4.6 HW 4.0-4.3; hind tibiae 5.8-6 mm i.e. much longer than the C. compressus shown below which has hind tibia about 4 mm long for the same overall size as magister). Bolton (1995: 110) had Camponotus magister as a distinct species, attributing the elevation to Santschi (1932f: 519). This is contradicted by Santschi's 1939d list. What he wrote in 1932 was that he had earlier placed magister as a subspecies of C. erigens but magister did not have any hairs on the underside of the head, unlike erigens where they are abundant. He noted that magister was more like fellah but that has a wider head and shorter legs. That appears to imply the North African "compressus" have long legs. The Stitz(1917) description of rectinotus shows it to be simply a minima morph, TL 6.5 mm, of (probably) occipitalis.

The Santschi description of pupillus immediately removes it to C. erigens as it has hairs on the underside of the head. The nitens queen of Bernard (1953a) has gular hairs placing it with C. erigens.

The foregoing, leads me to propose the North African "C. compressus" be designated as:
Camponotus martensi Forel 1907, type location Algeria, Biskra, collected by Martens, major worker; Santschi, 1929g: 165, queen; junior synonyms brullei (Formica Brullei, F Smith 1858b: 53, as replacement name for Formica carinata, Brullé, 1840: 84; subspecies as carinata, Santschi, 1939d: 82) from Canary Islands, but original description unavailable; magister (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) erigens st. magister, Santschi, 1925g: 357, major & minor workers) from Morocco; occipitalis (Camponotus maculatus r occipitalis, Stitz, 1917: 352, illustrated, minor) from Algeria; rectinotus (Camponotus maculatus r samius var. rectinotus, Stitz, 1917: 351; Camponotus compressus st. rectinotus, Santschi, 1921d: 75, minor) from Libya; and spahis (Camponotus (Myrmoturba) compressus st. thoracicus var. spahis, Santschi, 1925g: 357, major, queen & male; listed as a variety of martensi by Santschi, 1939d: 78) from Algeria.

Sub-Saharan Africa forms
The sole member is Camponotus probativus from Mozambique which seems sufficently distinctive to merit species status. It is possible that the record was simply a migrant of the type form compressus. Santschi's (1921d) description of probativus is at . Arnold's (19226) translation of probativus is at .