Camponotus universitatis

This is a social parasite of Camponotus aethiops and Camponotus pilicornis (Karaman, 2012); thus, its distribution should follow that of its hosts. At present, it is known from scattered localities of southern Europe, especially from Spain, France and Italy. This is the first record from Sardinia (Rigato & Toni, 2011).

Distribution
Forel (1890) described C. universitatis worker from France, but its queen and male were first described from the Iberian Peninsula by Tinaut et al. (1992). Host species for C. universitatis are C. aethiops Latreille, 1798 and C. pilicornis Roger, 1859 (Espadaler, 1981; Tinaut et al., 1992). C. universitatis is a rare ant species and has only been recorded in a few studies from Southern Europe: France (Forel, 1890; Espadaler, 1981); Switzerland (Forel, 1904; Kutter, 1936); Italy (Wurmli, 1969); Albania (Andoni, 1977) and Spain (Tinaut et al., 1992). According to Radchenko (2007), C. universitatis is distributed only in Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland but he ignored a record from Albania of Andoni (1977). More recently, Lapeva-Gjonova and Kıran (2012) recorded this species from Southeast Bulgaria in the Strandzha (Istranca) Mountain region. Despite this recent record from Bulgaria and the fact that 35 other parasitic ant species (17 temporary and 18 permanent social parasitic ants) are known from Turkey (Kıran and Aktac¸, 2007), C. universitatis has not yet been recorded from Turkey. (Karaman, 2012.)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.

Biology
This species exhibits a form of Social Parasitism.

Fungi
This species is a host for the ectoparastic fungus Laboulbenia camponoti (Espadaler & Santamaria, 2012).

Nomenclature

 *  universitatis. Camponotus universitatis Forel, 1890c: 218 (w.) FRANCE. Tinaut, Espadaler & Jimenez, 1992: 234 (q.m.). Combination in C. (Myrmoturba): Forel, 1914a: 267; in C. (Tanaemyrmex): Emery, 1925b: 98. See also: Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 187; Kutter, 1977c: 206.