Camponotus senex

Camponotus senex
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus
Species:	C. senex
Binomial name
Camponotus senex (Smith, F., 1858) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Tapinoma tomentosa Norton, 1868

In Costa Rica, C. senex is very common in lowland wet forest habitats. It can occur in both mature forest and highly disturbed areas. For example, workers are very common in canopy fogging samples from mature forest at La Selva Biological Station, yet I have also found them on the landscaping around the Juan Santa Maria airport near San Jose. Foragers are diurnal. Nests occur in highly insolated areas such as upper forest canopy, open scrubby or second growth vegetation, roadsides, and agricultural land. The species is an opportunistic cavity nester. Nests are in dead branches, ranging from narrow vine stems to relatively large branches. In surveys of Cecropia trees, I often find nests in internodes of saplings, or in mature trees abandoned by Azteca, or in peripheral portions of trees that have a dominant Azteca colony elsewhere in the crown. Importantly, they never make silk nests among leaves. (Longino 2006)

Identification

Longino (2006) - The subgenus Myrmobrachys of Camponotus is characterized by workers with a somewhat box-like propodeum that has a broad, subrectangular dorsal face. Within this group there is a confusing set of morphologically similar species that vary in details of shape, surface sculpture, and pilosity. In Costa Rica extensive faunal inventory work has resulted in an improved understanding of species boundaries. The species I identify as C. senex is all black, the side of the mesosoma is densely punctate, there are abundant short erect setae projecting from the sides of the head in full face view, the mesosomal dorsum is abundantly setose, the gastral dorsum is abundantly setose with an underlying pubescence that is sparse. Some species, such as the common Camponotus planatus and the silk-making Camponotus textor, have dense appressed pubescence on the gaster that nearly obscures the underlying cuticle and gives the gaster a yellow to white color. In contrast, the black cuticle of C. senex is easily seen beneath the dilute pubescence and the gaster appears black. There is strong worker polymorphism: the major worker is relatively large compared to minor workers. This contrasts with C. textor, which has major workers that are little larger than minor workers.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 25.78512167° to -31.632389°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Brazil (type locality), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Biology

De Oliveira et al. (2015), studying ant occupancy of Cecropia trees in southwest Bahia, Brazil, found three colonies of Camponotus senex opportunistically nesting in Cecropia pachystachya trees.

Koch et al. (2018) sampled this species in Caryocar barsiliense trees, in southeastern Brazil cerrado, as part of a study examining species interactions in ant-plants.

Passos and Leal (2019) - This species was found attending extrafloral nectaries of the plant Turnera subulata in northeastern Brazil (12°16′24″S 38°57′20″W) Caatinga vegetation. Camponotus senex, classified as a subordinate species, was a common attendant at the extrafloral nectaries.

Santos and Del Claro (2009) - nests were always arboreal (one nest/plant), with a round form, beige in colour, and with leaves and shoots adhering to the silk nest. Average size was 34.24 cm and the average weight was 163.87 g; nests contained up to 50,000 individuals and several queens. Worker ants were frequently observed feeding on honeydew, fruits and insects, and defended their territory.

Association with Other Organisms

 Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• This species is a host for the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (a parasitoid) (Quevillon, 2018) (encounter mode primary; direct transmission; transmission outside nest).

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0280096. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by PSWC, Philip S. Ward Collection.

Worker. Specimen code casent0619239. Photographer Ryan Perry, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by JTLC.

Lectotype of Camponotus senex. Worker. Specimen code casent0903636. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Paralectotype of Camponotus senex. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0903637. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Type of unavailable quadrinomial: Camponotus senex textor ruficlypeus. Worker. Specimen code casent0905514. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Type of unavailable quadrinomial: Camponotus senex textor obscuripes. Worker. Specimen code casent0911743. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Worker. Specimen code inbiocri002280890. Photographer Ryan Perry, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by JTLC.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• senex. Formica senex Smith, F. 1858b: 47 (w.q.) BRAZIL (Rio de Janeiro).
  • Mayr, 1878: 868 (m.); Forel, 1879a: 96 (s.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1953e: 194 (l.).
  • Combination in Camponotus: Mayr, 1862: 676;
  • combination in C. (Myrmobrachys): Forel, 1912i: 91.
  • Status as species: Mayr, 1862: 676; Mayr, 1863: 401; Roger, 1863b: 5; Smith, F. 1877a: 83; Mayr, 1878: 867 (redescription); Forel, 1879a: 96; Emery, 1890b: 56; Dalla Torre, 1893: 251; Emery, 1894k: 62; Emery, 1895c: 337; Emery, 1896d: 377 (in list); Forel, 1899c: 138; Forel, 1899d: 274; Forel, 1907a: 34; Forel, 1908c: 410; Santschi, 1913h: 43; Wheeler, W.M. 1916c: 14; Wheeler, W.M. 1916d: 330; Luederwaldt, 1918: 51; Wheeler, W.M. 1919c: 278; Emery, 1920c: 38; Wheeler, W.M. 1922c: 16; Wheeler, W.M. 1923a: 5; Emery, 1925b: 164; Borgmeier, 1927c: 158; Wheeler, W.M. 1933a: 63; Eidmann, 1936b: 98; Kempf, 1972a: 53; Bolton, 1995b: 123; Longino, 2006b: 133; Branstetter & Sáenz, 2012: 256; Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 113; Mackay & Mackay, 2019: 767.
  • Senior synonym of tomentosa: Emery, 1892b: 167; Kempf, 1972a: 54; Bolton, 1995b: 123; Longino, 2006b: 133.
• tomentosa. Tapinoma tomentosa Norton, 1868a: 60, pl. 2, fig. 2 (w.) MEXICO (Veracruz).
  • Combination in Camponotus: Norton, 1868c: 3.
  • Subspecies of senex: Emery, 1896d: 377 (in list).
  • Status as species: Norton, 1868c: 3; Forel, 1899c: 148; Emery, 1925b: 172 (error).
  • Junior synonym of senex: Emery, 1892b: 167; Kempf, 1972a: 54; Bolton, 1995b: 127; Longino, 2006b: 133.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Longino (2006) - Camponotus senex was described in 1858 from material collected in Brazil. I have not made extensive examinations of C. senex from museum collections, but in my own collecting experience I have identified as C. senex material from Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, and Guyana. The range of the species based on published identifications is Mexico to Brazil. Alex Wild examined a syntype of C. senex and provided a high-resolution image. It differs from the Costa Rican material in having red instead of black legs, but this is a character that appears intraspecifically variable in many species of Camponotus. The syntype is also similar to a montane form of C. textor found in Costa Rica, and I cannot easily distinguish the two. However, the montane form of C. textor is more likely to be a local endemic species or geographic variant of C. textor. Type specimens from Brazil are more likely to be conspecific with the widespread generalized cavity nester that I recognize in Central America and northern South America.

Through an early misidentification by Forel, it has been thought that C. senex builds silk nests. There is no mention of the nest of C. senex in Smith's original description nor in Mayr's (1878) redescription. Forel (1879) reviewed the Camponotus species related to C. senex and identified a collection from Cordoba, Mexico, as C. senex. The Mexican collection was from a “paper nest among branches,” and Forel noted the similarity to the silk nests of Camponotus chartifex and Camponotus nitidior (subgenus Dendromyrmex). Forel (1899) described the subspecies C. senex textor, based on material that Tonduz collected in Costa Rica, from a carton nest on leaves. Forel later (1905) identified Brazilian material as C. senex and reported Göldi’s observations that the larvae are used to spin silk for the nest. Wheeler (1915) reviewed use of larval silk for nest construction by ants, perpetuating the association of C. senex with carton nests. This was followed by Wheeler and Wheeler (1953), Schremmer (1979), and Holldobler and Wilson (1983). The name C. senex should be disassociated from the silk-spinning Camponotus and C. textor applied instead.

Given the lack of dense gastral pubescence on C. senex, it is unlikely that Norton’s Camponotus tomentosa is actually a synonym of C. senex. However, given the unavailability of types for the old Norton names, it can rest in oblivion under C. senex.

Type Material

Longino (2006) - Syntype worker, queen: Brazil, RJ, Constancia (Rev. H. Clark) The Natural History Museum (image examined).

References

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