''Colobopsis'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of ant in the subfamily

Formicinae The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development. Formicines retain some primitive features, such as the presence of cocoons around pupae, the presence of ocelli in workers, and littl ...

. This genus was first described in 1861 by Mayr and contains 95 species. The type species is '' Colobopsis truncata''.

Description

As part of Camponotini, ''Colobopsis'' workers have distinctive mandibular dentition (5-8 teeth with the 3rd tooth from the apex not being reduced), antennae 12-segmented and antennal separations well separated from the posterior clypeal margin. ''Colobopsis'' workers are dimorphic, being divided into major workers and minor workers. The major workers generally have phragmotic heads that are truncate to varying extents. This may cause them to be confused for '' Camponotus'' and vice versa, since some ''Camponotus'' also have phragmotic heads.

Pupae A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

of ''Colobopsis'' are always naked. This is unlike pupae of ''Camponotus'', which are enclosed in cocoons.

Phylogeny

For a period of time, ''Colobopsis'' was considered a subgenus of ''Camponotus''. A 2015 phylogenomic study found it to be the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to all the remaining Camponotini. Consequently, ''Colobopsis'' has been treated as its own genus again.

Species

Selected species: *'' Colobopsis abdita'' *'' Colobopsis anderseni'' *''

Colobopsis ceylonica ''Colobopsis ceylonica'' is a species of formicine ant. It is found from Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly ...

'' *'' Colobopsis explodens'' *'' Colobopsis saundersi'' *'' Colobopsis schmitzi'' *'' Colobopsis truncata''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q9815577 Formicinae Ant genera