Melaleuca arida (Hawkeswood) Craven & R.D.Edwards Calothamnus aridus is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to central parts of Western Australia.

It is an erect, densely branched shrub with many stems, needle-like leaves and orange-red to pinkish flowers, growing in arid areas with spinifex.

[2] Calothamnus aridus was first formally described in 1984 by Trevor Hawkeswood from a specimen found about 40 kilometres (20 mi) south west of Wiluna.

[2] In 2014 Craven, Edwards and Cowley proposed that the species be renamed Melaleuca arida but the change is not accepted by the Australian Plant Census.

[4] Calothamnus aridus occurs in and between the Paynes Find, Sandstone and Wiluna districts in the Avon Wheatbelt, Little Sandy Desert and Murchison biogeographic regions.