Notostigma carazzii

Notostigma carazzii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Melophorini
Genus:	Notostigma
Species:	N. carazzii
Binomial name
	Notostigma carazzii; (Emery, 1895) Specimen labels
Synonyms
	Camponotus podenzanai Emery, 1895;

Taylor (1992) - This species is seldom encountered diurnally, but in suitable areas its workers may be taken commonly at night on the ground. They range many metres from their nests as solitary foragers, and appear to navigate visually, yet may be taken abroad in darkness extreme to humans. Nests are constructed in the soil without a distinct mound, and have large, open entrances, usually overhung by exposed tree roots or pieces of rotting wood lying on the ground. They are frequently constructed at the bases of large trees. The upper nest chambers can often be exposed if the covering material can be lifted aside, but most chambers are deeper underground, to at least 0.5 m. Colony surrounds are quiescent during the day, and it is not usually possible to raise defenders, except by considerable excavation. At night, however, many ants may be present at nest entrances, depositing excavated soil, foraging, etc, and defenders are easily provoked to reaction. They spray formic acid (samples chemically identified by Dr T. E. Bellas), which can become locally redolent with disturbance. Most specified records are from rain forest, but several samples taken W of Paluma are from "wet sclerophyll". N. carazzii has not been encountered at some sites where I have frequently worked at night (e.g. Lake Eacham N.P .), and I suspect for this reason that its distribution might be patchy.

Identification

Taylor (1992) - This is perhaps the largest formicine, and one of the largest ants apart from Myrmecia, found in base-of-Cape-York-Peninsula rain forests. Its ground colour is very dull deep brown, almost black, with the head usually a shade darker, and largely shining in the very large-headed soldiers. Maximum head width in these can exceed 6 mm, and the occipital border may be allometrically deeply to very deeply concave in the largest individuals.

Keys including this Species

Key to Australian Notostigma Species

Distribution

Queensland.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -16.25° to -21.16538°.


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.

Elevation Range

Occurrence at collecting sites during elevational surveys of rainforest in the Eungella region, Queensland, Australia (Burwell et al., 2020).
Species	Elevation (m asl)
Species	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Notostigma carazzii			0-10	10-20
Shading indicates the bands of elevation where species was recorded. Numbers are the percentage of total samples containing this species.

Biology

Castes

Images from AntWeb


Worker. Specimen code casent0102090. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.


Worker. Specimen code casent0102377. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.


Worker. Specimen code casent0106112. Photographer Michael Branstetter, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by UCDC, Davis, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

carazzii. Camponotus carazzii Emery, 1895g: 354 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Forel, 1915b: 104 (s.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1988: 355 (l.). Combination in C. (Myrmosphincta): Forel, 1912i: 92; in Notostigma: Emery, 1920b: 253. Senior synonym of podenzanai: Taylor, 1992a: 62.
podenzanai. Camponotus podenzanai Emery, 1895g: 355 (w.m.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in C. (Myrmosphincta): Forel, 1914a: 273; in Notostigma: Emery, 1920b: 254. Junior synonym of carazzii: Taylor, 1992a: 62.

Type Material

Camponotus carazzii Emery, 1895: Syntype, worker(s), Mt. Bellenden Ker, Queensland, Australia, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa.
Camponotus podenzanai Emery, 1895: Syntype, worker(s), male(s), Kamerunga, Queensland, Australia, Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa.

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

Description

Emery 1895

References

Burwell, C.J., Nakamura, A. 2020. Rainforest ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an elevational gradient at Eungella in the Clarke Range, Central Queensland coast, Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 125: 43-63.
Emery, C. 1895h. Descriptions de quelques fourmis nouvelles d'Australie. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 39: 345-358 (page 354, worker described)
Emery, C. 1920b. Le genre Camponotus Mayr. Nouvel essai de la subdivision en sous-genres. Rev. Zool. Afr. (Bruss.) 8: 229-260 (page 253, Combination in Notostigma)
Forel, A. 1912j. Formicides néotropiques. Part VI. 5me sous-famille Camponotinae Forel. Mém. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 20: 59-92 (page 92, Combination in C. (Myrmosphincta))
Forel, A. 1915b. Results of Dr. E. Mjöbergs Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910-13. 2. Ameisen. Ark. Zool. 9(1 16: 1-119 (page 104, soldier, male described)
Hoffmann, B., Eldridge, J., Marston, C. 2023. The first eradication of an exotic ant species from the entirety of Australia: Pheidole fervens. Management of Biological Invasions, 14(4), 619–624 (doi:10.3391/mbi.2023.14.4.03).
Taylor, R. W. 1992a. Nomenclature and distribution of some Australian and New Guinean ants of the subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Aust. Entomol. Soc. 31: 57-69 (page 62, Senior synonym of podenzanai)
Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1988c. The larva of Notostigma (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae). J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 96: 355-358 (page 355, larva described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Forel A. 1915. Results of Dr. E. Mjöbergs Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910-13. 2. Ameisen. Ark. Zool. 9(16): 1-119
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.
Taylor R. W., and D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. Zoological Catalogue of Australia 2: 1-149.