Camponotus aterrimus

Camponotus aterrimus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus
Species:	C. aterrimus
Binomial name
Camponotus aterrimus Emery, 1895

Aibek & Yamane (2009) collected this species in eastern part (Domodaimag) of Mongolia from two colonies; in Numrug located close to inner Mongolia foraging workers were commonly found. It inhabits open sites at relatively low altitudes between 600 and 800 m. Nests were constructed in soil and the burrow was dug directly from the ground surface just as in cases observed for Camponotus japonicus in Japan. Our material contains a few specimens of this species from north-central pan (Bogdkhaan and Huslai). Yasumatsu and Brown (1957) correctly pointed out that Camponotus japonicus (including aterrimus) always nests under ground.

Identification

Camponotus aterrimus can be separated from Camponotus herculeanus (as Camponotus sachalinensis) and Camponotus saxatilis by the following characteristics (Aibek & Yamane, 2009):

• 1) in the smallest worker the dorsal outline of alitrunk in profile almost constantly arched throughout
• 2) propodeum with standing hairs down to the midlength of its posterior face
• 3) even in the larger workers the mandible basally without striae
• 4) clypeus often produced anteriad as a short lobe

In the single syntype queen of C. aterrimus from Russia the clypeus is anteriorly produced as a short lobe as in the queen of C. japonicus; these two are distinguished from C. herculeanus and C. saxatilis by this and the following additional characteristics:

• gastral tergites with denser and longer pubescence
• appressed hairs in length subequal to the distance between them or more
• anterior pan of the head, mandible and legs reddish

In the male C. japonicus is separated from C. herculeanus and C. saxutilis by the following characteristics:

• 1) seen from back the upper margin of petiole almost straight, with dorsolateral comers round, but petiole posterodorsally weakly produced at the middle
• 2) in both the queen and male the forewings almost wholly transparent, only slightly infuscated along the anterior margin

Keys including this Species

• Key to Camponotus of Mongolia

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 47.75° to 35.503°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Pakistan.
Palaearctic Region: China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russian Federation (type locality).

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.

Nomenclature

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

• aterrimus. Camponotus pennsylvanicus var. aterrimus Emery, 1895k: 478 (footnote) (w.q.) RUSSIA.
  • Type-material: 3 syntype workers, 1 syntype queen.
  • Type-locality: Russia: eastern Siberia (no further data).
  • [Note: Aibek & Yamane, 2009: 101, provide the MSNG synype data: 1 worker minor Russia: Amur, Raddefka (no collector’s name), 1 major worker, 1 queen Russia: eastern Siberia, Marsagan (no collector’s name).]
  • Type-depository: MSNG.
  • Ruzsky, 1905b: 238 (m.); Karavaiev, 1912b: 594 (s.).
  • Combination in C. (Camponotus): Emery, 1925b: 73.
  • As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1896d: 372 (in list); Emery, 1908a: 186; Karavaiev, 1912b: 594; Wheeler, W.M. 1921c: 544; Wheeler, W.M. 1923b: 5; Karavaiev, 1927d: 344; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1928b: 2; Teranishi, 1940: 25, 72.
  • Subspecies of pennsylvanicus: Ruzsky, 1903c: 205; Ruzsky, 1905b: 238.
  • Subspecies of herculeanus: Ruzsky, 1915a: 419; Ruzsky, 1920: 79; Kiseleva, 1925: 73; Ruzsky, 1946: 69.
  • Subspecies of japonicus: Emery, 1925b: 73; Santschi, 1925f: 88; Wheeler, W.M. 1927d: 9; Wheeler, W.M. 1927e: 3; Wheeler, W.M. 1928c: 32; Wheeler, W.M. 1929f: 9; Wheeler, W.M. 1930h: 75; Menozzi, 1939a: 317 (in key); Eidmann, 1941: 22; Eidmann, 1942: 250; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 221; Arnol'di, 1967: 1827; Pisarski, 1969a: 230; Pisarski, 1969b: 304; Dlussky & Pisarski, 1970: 86; Pisarski & Krzysztofiak, 1981: 159; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 170; Bolton, 1995b: 86.
  • Junior synonym of japonicus: Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929a: 17; Yasumatsu & Brown, 1951: 36; Yasumatsu & Brown, 1957: 49; Onoyama, 1980: 200; Radchenko, 1997a: 556; Imai, et al. 2003: 39.
  • Status as species: Ruzsky, 1926: 108; Ruzsky, 1936: 90; Aibek & Yamane, 2009: 99 (redescription).
  • Distribution: China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia.
  • [Note: distribution from Aibek & Yamane, 2009: 101.]

Type Material

• Syntype, 1 minor worker, Raddefka, Amur, Russian Federation, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa; examined by Aibek & Yamane (2009).
• Syntype, 1 major worker and 1 alate queen, Marsagan, Siberia orientate, Russian Federation, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa; examined by Aibek & Yamane (2009).

Taxonomic Notes

Aibek & Yamane (2009) - Kupyanskaya (1990, 1995) has treated this form as a subspecies of Camponotus japonicus. Pfeiffer el al. (2007) considered (but not clearly stated) aterrimus as a junior synonym of japonicus. We treat C. aterrimus as a distinct species since the gastral pubescence in the worker is distinctly shorter and sparser than in C. japonicus (see also Emery. 1895). In other respects, including nesting habits, these two are not separable. Since any of previous papers on Asian Camponotus did not mention the most important recognition characteristics of C. japonicus + C. aterrimus (1 and 2 mentioned above), previous records of C. aterrimus from Mongolia should be reexamined. The queen and male are not available for the Mongolian population of C. aterrimus.

References

• Aibek, U., Ulzii, T., Yamane, S., Proshchalykin, M.Y. 2024. New records of the ant genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Mongolia: discovery of the subgenus Myrmentoma. Asian Myrmecology 17, e017002 (doi:10.20362/AM.017002).
• Aibek, U., Yamane, S. 2009. Taxonomic review of the genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Formicinae) from Mongolia. Biogeography 11, 97-108.
• Dhadwal, T., Bharti, H. 2021. First record of Camponotus japonicus Mayr, 1866 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from India. Halteres 12: 74-79 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.6198922).
• Dubovikoff, D.A., Yusupov, Z.M. 2017. Family Formicidae - Ants. In Belokobylskij S. A. and A. S. Lelej: Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Proceedingss of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 6: 197-210.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Aibek U., and S. Yamane. 2009. Taxonomic review of the genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Formicinae) from Mongolia. Biogeography 11: 97-108.
• Dlussky G. M., and B. Pisarski. 1970. Formicidae aus der Mongolei. Ergebnisse der Mongolisch-Deutschen Biologischen Expeditionen seit 1962, Nr. 46. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 46: 85-90.
• Holgersen H. 1943. Insecta, ex Sibiria meridionali et Mongolia, in itinere Orjan Olsen 1914 collecta. C. Hymenoptera. 1. Formicidae. D. Hemiptera. 1. Homoptera cicadina. Norsk Entomologisk Tidsskrift 6: 162-163.
• Pisarski B. 1969. Fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la Mongolie. Fragmenta Faunistica (Warsaw). 15: 221-236.
• Santschi F. 1925. Contribution à la faune myrmécologique de la Chine. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 56: 81-96.
• Wheeler W. M. 1930. A list of the known Chinese ants. Peking Natural History Bulletin 5: 53-81.