Data from: Taxonomic revision of imitating carpenter ants, Camponotus subgenus Myrmopytia (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Madagascar, using morphometry and qualitative traits

The ant genus Camponotus (Mayr, 1861) is one of the most abundant and species rich ant genera in the Malagasy zoogeographical region. Although this group is commonly encountered, its taxonomy is far from complete. Here, we clarify the taxonomy of the Malagasy-endemic Camponotus subgenus Myrmopytia (Emery, 1920). Species delimitation was based on traditional morphological characters and multivariate morphometric analyses, including exploratory Nest Centroid clustering and confirmatory cross-validated Linear Discriminant Analysis. Four species are recognized: Camponotus imitator (Forel, 1891), Camponotus jodina sp. n., Camponotus karaha sp. n., and Camponotus longicollis sp. n. All four species appear to mimic co-occurring Aphaenogaster species. A diagnosis of the subgenus Myrmopytia, species descriptions, an identification key based on minor and major subcastes of workers, and the known geographical distribution of each species are provided.弓背蚁属（Camponotus，Mayr于1861年建立）是马达加斯加动物地理区中物种多样性最高、种群数量最为丰富的蚂蚁属之一。尽管该类群极为常见，但其分类学研究仍远未完善。本研究厘清了马达加斯加特有弓背蚁属下的Myrmopytia亚属（Emery于1920年建立）的分类学问题。物种界定以传统形态特征与多变量形态测量分析为依据，涵盖探索性巢质心聚类（exploratory Nest Centroid clustering）以及验证性交叉验证线性判别分析（Linear Discriminant Analysis）。本研究共确认4个有效物种：模仿弓背蚁（Camponotus imitator，Forel于1891年命名）、Camponotus jodina sp. n.（新种）、Camponotus karaha sp. n.（新种）以及Camponotus longicollis sp. n.（新种）。上述4个物种均拟态同域分布的Aphaenogaster属（Aphaenogaster）物种。本研究提供了Myrmopytia亚属的鉴别特征、各物种的形态描述、基于工蚁小型与大型亚品级的鉴定检索表，以及各物种已知的地理分布范围。