Camponotus insipidus

Camponotus insipidus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus
Species:	C. insipidus
Binomial name
Camponotus insipidus Forel, 1893 Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Camponotus claripes minima Crawley, 1922

Wheeler (1934) Rottnest Island: "Workers and dealated females from several colonies nesting under stones in the following localities: Government House (X.21.'31), Lady Edeline Beach (X.23.'31), Longreach Bay (X.24.'31) (Wheeler) and City of York Bay (Grauert).

Identification

Heterick (2009) - Camponotus scratius and Camponotus minimus are both common, and, being very similar in appearance, are easily confused. Both major and minor workers, however, can be distinguished by the presence (C. scratius) or absence (C. minimus) of setae on the venter of the head capsule.

Minor workers of C. minimus vary considerably in appearance from tiny, yellowish forms from the Kwongan sand-plain north of Perth, to rather more robust brown ants in southern districts. Some workers from the goldfields have an orange mesosoma, contrasting with a dark head, petiolar node and gaster.

McArthur (2009) – Camponotus minimus lacks erect setae on the underside of the head, has wide frontal carinae with FCW > HW / 3 and is polymorphic, whereas Camponotus claripes has plentiful erect setae on the underside of the head, has narrower frontal carinae with FCW < HW / 3 and is dismorphic.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Australian Camponotus majors of the southwestern Botanical Province
• Key to Australian Camponotus species

Distribution

A wide range in coastal WA, Camponotus minimus and rarely found more than a few kilometres from the coast. However, it is also found in inland sand-plain country, east of Kalgoorlie.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -16.3° to -38.15°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (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.

Castes

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Nomenclature

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

• insipidus. Camponotus insipidus Forel, 1893d: 454 (s.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
  • Type-material: holotype (?) major worker.
  • [Note: no indication of number of specimens is given.]
  • Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, East Wallaby I. (J.J. Walker).
  • Type-depository: MHNG.
  • Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1974a: 61 (l.).
  • Combination in C. (Myrmophyma): Forel, 1914a: 269; Santschi, 1928e: 482.
  • Status as species: Emery, 1896d: 374 (in list); Emery, 1925b: 111; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 115; Taylor, 1987a: 13; Bolton, 1995b: 105; McArthur, 2014: 64.
  • Senior synonym of minimus: Heterick, 2021: 6.
  • Distribution: Australia.
• minima. Camponotus (Myrmophyma) claripes r. minima Crawley, 1922c: 31 (s.w.q.m.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
  • Type-material: syntype major and minor workers, syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated).
  • [Note: McArthur, 2009: 279, cites 1w major, 1w minor syntypes.]
  • Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, Mundaring, nos 117, 121, 122, 131, 135 (J. Clark).
  • Type-depository: OXUM.
  • Combination in C. (Thlipsepinotus): Santschi, 1928e: 483.
  • Subspecies of claripes: Emery, 1925b: 110; Santschi, 1928e: 483; Wheeler, W.M. 1934d: 160; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 112; Taylor, 1987a: 11; Bolton, 1995b: 111; McArthur, 2007a: 342; Heterick, 2009: 69; McArthur, 2010: 64.
  • Status as species: McArthur, 2009: 279 (redescription); McArthur, 2014: 56.
  • Junior synonym of insipidus: Heterick, 2021: 6.

Type Material

• Camponotus insipidus: Holotype, worker (badly damaged), East Wallaby Island, Western Australia, Australia, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève.
• Camponotus claripes minima: Syntype, 3 workers, Mundaring, Western Australia, Australia, Australian Museum.
• Camponotus claripes minima: Syntype, 2 workers, Mundaring, Western Australia, Australia, Museum Victoria, Melbourne.
• Camponotus claripes minima: Syntype, 2 workers, Mundaring, Western Australia, Australia, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
• Camponotus claripes minima: Syntype, worker(s), queen(s), male(s), Mundaring, Western Australia, Australia, Clark Nos. 117,121,122,131,135.

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

Description

Worker Major or media. Length 8 mm Mandibles short, obtuse, armed with 6 teeth, finely coriaceous, sub opaque, punctate. Clypeus subkeeled, convex, sublobed. Head strongly widened behind, a little wider than long. Thorax quite like C. marginatus but the back is slightly convex; the declivity face of the metanotum (= propodeum) is high, subvertical, forming with the basal face a rounded angle. Basal face scarcely half as long as the declivity. The node almost square, sharp, the superior border weakly indented. 3 or 4 little barbs on the tibias.

Very glossy; very feebly shagreen. Punctation is superimposed much more finely and weakly than C. walkeri, a little stronger on the front of the head than elsewhere.

Pilosity, pubescence and color as with the preceding specimen [walkeri?] but the limbs and scapes are darker and the and the front of the head except for the articulations of the antennae is reddish.

East Wallaby Island Western Australia. M. JJ Walker

This specimen, a close relative of the preceding walkeri? is smaller and more glossy, its form is not well determined. However the form of the thorax, clypeus, wider head, and the node prevent me from making it a simple race.

References

• Forel, A. 1893f. Nouvelles fourmis d'Australie et des Canaries. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 37: 454-466 (page 454, soldier, worker described)
• Forel, A. 1914a. Le genre Camponotus Mayr et les genres voisins. Rev. Suisse Zool. 22: 257-276 (page 269, Combination in C. (Myrmophyma))
• Heterick, B.E. 2021. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part I: Systematics. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 86, 1-245 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2021.001-245).
• Heterick, B.E. 2022. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part II: Distribution and biology. Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement 86: 247-510 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2022.247-510).
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1974a. Ant larvae of the subfamily Formicinae: third supplement. J. Ga. Entomol. Soc. 9: 59-64 (page 61, larva described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Heterick B. E., M. Lythe, and C; Smithyman. 2012. Urbanisation factors impacting on ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) biodiversity in the Perth metropolitan area, Western Australia: Two case studies. Urban Ecosyst. DOI 10.1007/s11252-012-0257-2
• McArthur A. J. 2009. New species, new status and new synonymy for Camponotus from Australia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 12: 273-286.
• Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.