Camponotus ionius

Camponotus ionius
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus
Subgenus:	Tanaemyrmex
Species complex:	samius
Species:	C. ionius
Binomial name
Camponotus ionius Emery, 1920 Specimen Labels

A common species typically found in drier areas, C. ionius has been found in a range of habitats (see distribution section below). Nests have been uncovered by turning over large stones. Workers are usually active at dawn and dusk. Major workers forage up to 10 meters away from the nest and are often collected on roads or tree trunks.

Identification

A member of the Camponotus samius species complex (Tanaemyrmex).

Salata et al. (2020) - Hind tibia and scape with decumbent to suberect pilosity but without additional erect setae; gena without numerous erect setae; mesosoma in major workers sometimes ventrolaterally paler (brown to bright brown) than black to dark brown head and gaster, in minor workers mesosoma usually slightly paler than head and gaster, with dark dorsum and brown to bright brown lateral sides; legs in minor and major workers reddish brown; gaster in major and minor workers uniformly coloured, sometimes minor with indistinctly brighter colouration on its basal part; pilosity on gaster sparse.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Camponotus of Turkey
• Key to Camponotus samius species complex

Distribution

This is a common species known from all Greek provinces except Crete (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 42.596228° to 35.583333°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Greece (type locality), North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye.

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.

Habitat

This species has been found in various types of arid habitats. Camponotus ionius has most commonly been collected from pine forests, but also observed in olive plantations, deciduous forests, and gardens in urban areas. Workers are also occasionally observed in open habitats, especially pastures with shrubs and limestone rocks or large stones. Camponotus ionius is also one of the pioneer species in burned forests.

Castes

Worker

Salata, Khalili-Moghadam & Borowiec 2020. Figures 11-12. Camponotus ionius 11: major worker; 12: minor worker lateral; scale bars = 2mm.

Minor

Salata, Khalili-Moghadam & Borowiec 2020. Figures 21. Minor worker.

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0906055. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Syntype of Camponotus ionius. Worker. Specimen code casent0905287. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Major

Salata, Khalili-Moghadam & Borowiec 2020. Figure 20. Camponotus ionius major worker.

Nomenclature

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

• ionius. Camponotus (Myrmoturba) samius var. ionia Emery, 1920c: 6.
  • [First available use of Camponotus maculatus subsp. samius var. ionia Emery, 1901e: 59 (w.) GREECE; unavailable (infrasubspecific) name.]
  • [Misspelled as jonia by Finzi, 1928c: 791; misspelled as ionicus by Petrov, 2006: 109 (in key).]
  • Santschi, 1921a: 116 (q.); Karaman, C. et al. 2011: 190 (m.).
  • Combination in C. (Tanaemyrmex): Emery, 1925b: 100.
  • As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1905d: 36 (in text); Emery, 1908a: 193; Forel, 1911d: 360; Emery, 1914d: 159.
  • Subspecies of samius: Santschi, 1921a: 116; Emery, 1925b: 100; Finzi, 1928c: 791; Finzi, 1930d: 318; Menozzi, 1936d: 300; Finzi, 1939c: 159.
  • [Note: Santschi, 1921a: 116, has sanctus var. ionia, in error for samius var ionia.]
  • Status as species: Aktaç, 1977: 125; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 58; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 284 (in key); Collingwood, 1993b: 195; Bolton, 1995b: 105; Petrov, 2006: 109 (in key); Lapeva-Gjonova, et al. 2010: 44; Legakis, 2011: 30; Karaman, C. et al. 2011: 190; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 476; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 7; Karaman, C. & Aktaç, 2013: 53 (in key); Borowiec, L. 2014: 34; Bračko, et al. 2014: 18; Lebas, et al. 2016: 154; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2018: 4; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 43.

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

Type Material

Salata et al. (2020) - Three syntype workers, Kefalonia, Greece. coll. Sangiorgi (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa). Syntype major worker images examined, AntWeb, CASENT0905287, photos by Will Ericson.

References

• Agosti, D.; Collingwood, C. A. 1987a. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 60: 51-62 (page 58, Raised to species)
• Aktaç, N. 1977 [1976]. Studies on the myrmecofauna of Turkey I. Ants of Siirt, Bodrum and Trabzon. Istanbul Univ. Fen Fak. Mecm. Seri B 41: 115-135 (page 125, Raised to species)
• Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Borowiec, L., Lebas, C., Salata, S. 2022. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from three northern Aegean islands – Lemnos, Samothraki and Thasos. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Entomology 31: 1-14 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.7346453).
• Borowiec, L., Salata, S. 2022. A monographic review of ants of Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Vol. 1. Introduction and review of all subfamilies except the subfamily Myrmicinae. Part 1: text. Natural History Monographs of the Upper Silesian Museum 1: 1-297.
• Borowiec, L., Salata, S. 2022. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Thassos Island, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Entomology 31 (online 2): 1-15 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.6123287).
• Borowiec, L., Wieczorek, K., Salata, S. 2021. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Dodecanese Archipelago, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 30: 1-33 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.5571270).
• Bracko, G., Wagner, H.C., Schulz, A., Gioahin, E., Maticic, J., Trantnik, A. 2014. New investigation and a revised checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Republic of Macedonia. North-Western Journal of Zoology 10: 10-24.
• Cantone S. 2017. Winged Ants, The Male, Dichotomous key to genera of winged male ants in the World, Behavioral ecology of mating flight (self-published).
• Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
• Emery, C. 1920d. Studi sui Camponotus. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 52: 3-48 (page 6, worker described)
• Emery, C. 1925d. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Formicinae. Genera Insectorum 183: 1-302 (page 100, Combination in C. (Tanaemyrmex))
• Karaman, C.; Aktaç, N.; Kiran, K. 2011. Ants of the genus Camponotus Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Kaz Mountains, Turkey, with descriptions of sexuals of Camponotus candiotes Emery, 1894 and Camponotus ionius Emery, 1920. Turkish Journal of Zoology 35:183-197. [2011-03]
• Kiran, K., Karaman, C. 2020. Additions to the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoosystema 42(18), 285-329 (doi:10.5252/zoosystema2020v42a18).
• Lapeva-Gjonova, A., Borowiec, L. 2022. New and little-known ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Bulgaria. Biodiversity Data Journal, 10: e83658 (doi:10.3897/bdj.10.e83658).
• Menozzi, C. 1936b. Nuovi contributi alla conoscenza della fauna delle Isole italiane dell'Egeo. VI. Hymenoptera - Formicidae. Boll. Lab. Zool. Gen. Agrar. R. Sc. Super. Agric. 29: 262-311 (page 300, Variety of samius)
• Salata, S., Borowiec, L., Trichas, A. 2020. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Crete, with keys to species determination and zoogeographical remarks. Monographs of the Upper Silesian Museum No 12: 5–296 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.3738001).
• Salata, S., Khalili-Moghadam, A., Borowiec, L. 2020. Review of the Camponotus samius complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Turano-Balkan region, with the description of a new species from Iran. Zootaxa 4763(4): 545–562 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4763.4.5).
• Santschi, F. 1921a. Notes sur les fourmis paléarctiques. II. Fourmis d'Asie Mineure récoltées par M. H. Gadeau de Kerville. Bol. R. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 21: 110-116 (page 116, queen described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Agosti, D. and C.A. Collingwood. 1987. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 60: 51-62
• Aktaç, N.. "Studies on the myrmecofauna of Turkey I. Ants of Siirt, Bodrum and Trabzon." Istanbul Universitesi Fen Fakultesi Mecmuasi. Seri B 41 (1977): 115-135.
• Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2012. Ants of Greece - Checklist, comments and new faunistic data (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus 23(4): 461-563.
• Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
• Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2018. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Samos Island, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-13.
• Bracko G., H. C. Wagner, A. Schulz, E. Gioahim, J. Maticic, and A. Tratnik. 2014. New investigation and a revised checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Republic of Macedonia. North-Western Journal of Zoology 10(1): 10-24.
• Bracko G., H. C. Wagner, E. Gioahin, J. Maticic, and A. Tratnik. 2011. Contribution to the knowledge of the ant fauna of the southeastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. Entomologica romanica 16: 54.
• Bracko G., K. Kiran, C. Karaman, S. Salata, and L. Borowiec. 2016. Survey of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Greek Thrace. Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7945. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.4.e7945
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• Legakis Collection Database
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