Camponotus repens

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Camponotus repens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Camponotini
Genus: Camponotus
Subgenus: Mayria
Species group: repens
Species: C. repens
Binomial name
Camponotus repens
Forel, 1897

Camponotus repens casent0101175 profile 1.jpg

Camponotus repens casent0101175 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Synonyms

Camponotus repens is an endemic, widespread species distributed across the littoral forests and rainforests of the north, the tropical dry forests of the northwest and west, the gallery forests of the central south and southeast, and the spiny forests and thickets in the south of Madagascar. In open habitats like Uapaca woodland, spiny forests and thickets, and a few tropical forests, the nests are found either in the ground or under stones, whereas in most of the dry habitats and the gallery forests the species nests in rotten logs, rot pockets, and rotting tree stumps. Workers have been found foraging in the leaf litter, on the ground and on the lower parts of the vegetation.

Identification

A member of the subgenus Mayria (see diagnosis). Rakotonirina and Fisher (2018) - Median portion of clypeus with longitudinal carina; dorsum of mesosoma covered with numerous slender erect hairs and elongate appressed hairs; in lateral view, petiolar node higher than long; distal portion of procoxa white.

One of the smallest species (CL: 0.8–1.18; PW: 0.54–0.83) in the subgenus Mayria, C. repens can be recognized by its mesosoma dorsum covered with numerous slender erect hairs and elongate appressed hairs, the convex median portion of the clypeus and the white color of the distal portion of the procoxa.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -12.2733° to -25.021°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Malagasy Region: Madagascar (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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.
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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.
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Biology

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Camponotus repens casent0102438 head 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102438 profile 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102438 dorsal 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102438 label 1.jpg
Paralectotype of Camponotus repensWorker. Specimen code casent0102438. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Camponotus repens casent0104623 head 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0104623 profile 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0104623 dorsal 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0104623 label 1.jpg
Type of Mayria madagascarensisWorker. Specimen code casent0104623. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ZMHB, Berlin, Germany.
Camponotus repens casent0102439 profile 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102439 dorsal 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102439 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102439. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Camponotus repens casent0102437 profile 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102437 dorsal 1.jpgCamponotus repens casent0102437 label 1.jpg
Lectotype of Camponotus repensWorker. Specimen code casent0102437. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

  • madagascarensis. Mayria madagascarensis Forel, 1886c: civ (w.) MADAGASCAR.
    • [Junior secondary homonym of Camponotus niveosetosus madagascarensis Forel, 1886c: civ.]
    • [Misspelled as madagascariensis by Forel, 1891b: 75.]
    • [Mayria madagascarensis Forel, 1879a: 126. Nomen nudum.]
    • Forel, 1894e: 227 (s.).
    • Combination in Camponotus (Mayria): Forel, 1894e: 227.
    • Status as species: Forel, 1891b: 75 (redescription); Dalla Torre, 1893: 219; Forel, 1894e: 227; Emery, 1896d: 374 (in list).
    • Replacement name: Camponotus (Mayria) repens Forel, 1897c: 187.
  • repens. Camponotus (Mayria) repens Forel, 1897c: 187.
    • Replacement name for Mayria madagascarensis Forel, 1886c: civ. [Junior secondary homonym of Camponotus niveosetosus r. madagascarensis Forel, 1886c: civ.]
    • Status as species: Emery, 1898a: 226; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 1047; Emery, 1925b: 123; Bolton, 1995b: 120; McArthur, 2012: 136; Rakotonirina & Fisher, 2018: 49 (redescription).

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

Description

Worker

Rakotonirina and Fisher (2018) - Minor. In full-face view, head elongate, oval, with broadly convex posterior margin. Clypeus with truncate anteromedian margin, its junction to lateral margin broadly angulate; clypeal lamella absent. Eyes breaking lateral outlines of head, their posterior margins located well behind the mid-length of the head (PoOc/CL: 0.27±0.01; 0.25–0.29). Mandible triangular, apical margin with six sharp teeth. Antennal scape long, roughly its apical third extending beyond posterior cephalic border. In lateral view, pronotum weakly convex; mesonotum and propodeum more or less straight; propodeal angle roughly rounded; propodeal dorsum roughly one and a half times longer than height of declivity. Petiolar node about as high as long.

Dorsum of body covered with numerous slender, whitish, erect hairs and abundant elongate pubescence. Head, mesosoma, and gaster black; legs generally much lighter in color than body: trochanter, apical portion of coxa and femur whitish-yellow; rest of leg dark brown basally and becoming light brown toward the apex; antennal scape and apical portion of funiculus dark brown and basal portion of funiculus light brown to brown.

Major. With characteristics of minor worker except for the following divergent characters: larger head; antennal scape barely surpassing posterior cephalic margin; longitudinal median cariana on posterior half of clypeus; pronotum weakly convex; mesonotum and propodeal dorsum more or less straight and separated by a shallow metanotum; declivity surface rounding to propodeal dorsum.

Type Material

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Fisher B. L. 1997. Biogeography and ecology of the ant fauna of Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Natural History 31: 269-302.
  • Fisher B. L. 2003. Formicidae, ants. Pp. 811-819 in: Goodman, S. M.; Benstead, J. P. (eds.) 2003. The natural history of Madagascar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, xxi + 1709 pp.
  • Forel A. 1886. Diagnoses provisoires de quelques espèces nouvelles de fourmis de Madagascar, récoltées par M. Grandidier. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique. 30: ci-cvii.
  • Forel A. 1897. Ameisen aus Nossi-Bé, Majunga, Juan de Nova (Madagaskar), den Aldabra-Inseln und Sansibar, gesammelt von Herrn Dr. A. Voeltzkow aus Berlin. Mit einem Anhang über die von Herrn Privatdocenten Dr. A. Brauer in Marburg auf den Seychellen und von Herrn Perrot auf Ste. Marie (Madagaskar) gesammelten Ameisen. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft 21: 185-208.
  • Goodman S., Y. Anbdou, Y. Andriamiarantsoa, B. L. Fisher, O. Griffiths, B. Keitt, J. J. Rafanomezantsoa, E. Rajoelison, J. C. Rakotonirina, L. Ranaivoarisoa et al. 2017. Results of a biological inventory of the Nosy Ankao island group, Parc National de Loky-Manambato, northeastern Madagascar. Malagasy Nature, Association Vahatra, 2017, 11, <http://www.vahatra.mg/volume11fr.html>
  • Rakotonirina J. C., and B. L. Fisher. 2018. Taxonomic revision of the Malagasy Camponotus subgenus Mayria Hymenoptera, Formicidae) using qualitative and quantitative morphology. Zootaxa 4438: 1-58.
  • Ravelomanana A., and B. L. Fisher. 2013. Diversity of ants in burned and unburned grassland , and dry deciduous forest in the Beanka Reserve, Melaky Region, western Madagascar. Malagasy Nature 7: 171-183.