Talk:Camponotus fragilis

Beginnings of biology: Camponotus fragilis

Currently as I am writing this, the biology of this species is unknown. However, an ant keeper in arizona, Stalling Hale, who goes by the username xanuri has made a few observations and collections, some of which can be seen on ant keeping wiki I have also observed some hunting behavoir of this species on a trip through arizona.

Observation Info (from Stalling Hale)

A fledgeling colony was collected while digging for solenopsis xyloni It originally contained a queen two workers and brood, The collection was made in late February 2019, Apache Junction, Pinal Co., AZ, USA.

"While digging for S. xyloni queens on Saturday January 26th, 2019, the nest was located near a sage bush. I seemed to have dug up a C. fragilis queen along with two workers. I quickly caught the queen and then a worker but before I could get the second worker the S. xyloni horde killed it. Needless to say it wasn't what I was expecting but I was happy none the less. I know that I caused her a major setback with the loss of a worker and her brood. What happened next was awesome luck I must say...

The next rock I flipped over, not very far away and really not expecting to locate any ants that close by, to my surprise was a C. fragilis colony, they were warming their brood at the surface against the rock. I quickly scooped up a few of their brood, 2-3 larvae, this was a perfect find to help save my queen.

I quickly setup her test tube and placed the captured brood into it and then her and her worker. They quickly and easily accepted the brood from the other colony."

on the ant keeping wiki the colony is stated as having around 100 workers, after communicating with the keeper, that number is now around 800. He also has been observing the wild colonies as well. In combination with this I was able to observe a colony on a trip to arizona once, as well as possibly finding the species in moab (no collections in either instances on my end so the presence cannot be verified).

Here's the info I have gathered about possible biology of this species

Nocturnal: this species is likely primarily nocturnal as colonies in arizona have been observed emerging primarily at night, as well as the pale color of the ants which is indicative of nocturnal ants.

Diet: these ants appear to be termitophagous as this behavior has been observed both by me and the keeper of the species, they are capable of eating other insects but seem to mostly eat termites when capable. Further evidence of termitophagy can be observed in the coloration of the ants abdomen. according to Hale: "the wild workers appear to have a white-filled gasters [likely protein-induced physogastrism], however the captive colony did not appear to have workers this way. It occured to me that they might eat termites, so when I fed them termites, they [developed] the white gasters" The species appears to primarily predate on Reticulitermes from observations that I have made, but guessing by the fact that they are capable of eating other foods they would likely also eat Heterotermes as well. As well as this, this species eats flower nectar to gain sugar

Habitat: Camponotus fragilis is a desert dwelling species it lives in places with dry, arid, and sandy soil, and often nest near to, or under rocks. Because of their affinity to termites, they likely also are found in locations with a moderate to strong presence of them.

Behaviors: like before aforementioned, this species is nocturnal, but it likely warms up it's brood under rocks. As well as hunting termites, according to what I had observed, they do this by breaking into the tube nests of the subterranean termites and entering and collecting termites from the colony.

Presence in Utah? when I was camping near arches national park in moab last year I saw a species of yellow nocturnal camponotus that appeared to be almost identical to C. fragilis, unfortunately I did not have enough equipment to collect them at the time, so the observation remains as a speculation for now, at least until it is proved by returning to the location.

Since these observations stated above are only weakly supported more observations will have to be made, so for now no true observations can be stated. as well as this observations are lacking photographing evidence. If any updates occur to the situation, I will be sure to update this talk page -Josiah Kilburn