Subfamily FORMICINAE
Tribe CAMPONOTINI
Colobopsis mississippiensis (M. R. Smith, 1923)

Author: Joe A. MacGown
Uploaded 2009; last updated 28 February 2018

Introduction
Members of the genus Colobopsis can be recognized by the unusual modifications of the heads of both the major workers and queens which are severely truncated in the anterior third. This phragmotic condition enables the major workers to serve as living doors to their nests which are in living or dead twigs, stems, and some galls.

Colobopsis mississipiensis is a relatively small carpenter ant with major ranging from 4.5 to 5.5 mm and minors 3.5-4.0 mm. Major workers of C. mississipiensis can be easily recognized by the deeply concave, truncated surface of the head with the sides of the truncated area very sharp and well defined except in the posterior part of the clypeus. When viewed from above, the head of majors of this species have sides that diverge anteriorly and have the anterior part of the head very concave or hollowed out.

Taxonomic History (Bolton 2018)
Camponotus (Colobopsis) mississippiensis Smith, 1923: 83 (s.w.) U.S.A. Nearctic. Wheeler & Wheeler, 1953: 188 (l.).Combination in Colobopsis: Ward, Blaimer & Fisher, 2016: 350.

Diagnosis
Colobopsis mississipiensis is a relatively small carpenter ant with major ranging from 4.5 to 5.5 mm and minors 3.5-4.0 mm. Major workers of C. mississipiensis can be easily recognized by the deeply concave, truncated surface of the head with the sides of the truncated area very sharp and well defined except in the posterior part of the clypeus. When viewed from above, the head of majors of this species have sides that diverge anteriorly and have the anterior part of the head very concave or hollowed out.

Biology and Economic Importance
Colobopsis mississipiensis appears to be the most common species of the genus Colobopsis found in Mississippi and in fact was so named for that reason. This highly specialized species has only been found nesting in live twigs of white ash, Fraxinus americana L. (Smith, M. R. 1923; Tynes 1964) and generally, if one can find the host tree, one can find colonies of this ant.

Distribution

U.S. Distribution: (AL, FL, LA, DC,, MS, NC. SC, TN)  (Antweb.org and MEM).

Southeastern U.S. Distribution: (AL, FL, LA, MS, NC. SC, TN)  (MEM).

Acknowledgments
Funding for the ant work being done by the MEM in Alabama and Mississippi is from several sources including the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, under Project No. MIS-012040, the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station at Mississippi State University, with support from State Project MIS-311080, NSF Grants BSR-9024810 and DFB-9200856, the Tombigbee National Forest (U.S. Forest Service), the Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi Natural Heritage Program Research Grant, USDA Forest Service Agreement No. 08-99-07-CCS-010, the William H. Cross Expedition Fund, and primarily by the USDA-ARS Areawide Management of Imported Fire Ant Project (2001-2014) and USDA-ARS Areawide Management Invasive Ants Project. Additionally, special cooperation has been provided by State Parks, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, the Natchez Trace Parkway, and from various private landowners in both Alabama and Mississippi.

Literature Cited
Bolton, B. 2018. An online catalog of the ants of the world. Online at: http://antcat.org. Accessed 28 February 2018.

Smith, M. R. 1923. Two new Mississippi ants of the subgenus Colobopsis. Psyche (Cambridge) 30: 82-88.

Tynes, J. S. 1964. Biological and ecological studies of ants of the subgenus Colobopsis in Mississippi. M. S. Thesis, Mississippi State College, State College. i-vii + 73 pp.

Ward, P. S., Blaimer, B. B., and Fisher, B. L. 2016. A revised phylogenetic classification of the ant subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with resurrection of the genera Colobopsis and Dinomyrmex. Zootaxa 4072: 343-357. 

Wheeler, G. C. and Wheeler, J. 1953. The ant larvae of the subfamily Formicinae. Part II. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 46:175-217.

Links

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