Camponotus nitidescens

The nest of Camponotus nitidescens was on a cracked rock wall under a loose piece of rock. The rock was situated on the edge of a natural deciduous forest composed of low oaks and underbrush heavily overgrown with Mediterranean macchia. The wall with the nest was on north-western exposure (Borowiec & Salata, 2014).

Identification
Salata et al. (2019) - A member of the Camponotus kiesenwetteri species group. Head, mesosoma, and gaster uniformly brownish-black to black; metanotal groove present, shallow; propodeum without protrusions; body punctate, mesosoma with sculpture reduced and its lateral sides at least partially shiny; base of scape without extension; whole body bears long, thick, pale, dense and erect setae, and short appressed microsetae; petiolar scale thick.

Camponotus nitidescens together with Camponotus schulzi are well distinguished from other species of the kiesenwetteri species group in the partly reduced sculpture of the mesosoma and gaster with, at least, the lateral sides of mesosoma partly shiny. However, the sculpture is never as shiny as in members of related members of the Camponotus lateralis species group.

Distribution
Salata et al. (2019) Niche modeling - Although the known distribution is restricted to the western area of the Aegean region, highly suitable areas are indicated in Crete, northeast coast of Turkey, coast of Syria and Lebanon. Solar radiation was the variable that contributed the most to the distribution model.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Greece.

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus kiesenwetteri r. nitidescens Forel, 1889: 260 (w.) GREECE (Kephalonia I.).
 * Combination in C. (Myrmentoma): Emery, 1925b: 121.
 * Subspecies of kiesenwetteri: Emery, 1896d 376 (in list); Emery, 1914d: 159; Emery, 1925b: 121; Finzi, 1930d: 318; Bolton, 1995b: 114.
 * Junior synonym of piceus: Radchenko, 1997b: 707; Legakis, 2011: 31; Radchenko, 2016: 334.
 * Status as species: Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2014b: 502 (redescription); Lebas, et al. 2016: 140; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 43; Salata, Loss, et al. 2019: 94.

Taxonomic Notes
Seifert (2019): This taxon has been described from Kephalonia / Greece. Investigation of types of all castes from, all labeled ‘...Kephalonia...nitidescens...type’, showed a much stronger sculpture and much denser pubescence on all body surfaces than observed in any member of the C. lateralis group. This results in a matte surface appearance at smaller magnifications. This difference to the C. lateralis group is most obvious on gaster tergites. These characters are perhaps a little less expressed than in the Camponotus kiesenwetteri type. Borowiec and Salata (2014) have raised C. k. nitidescens to species level and considered it closely related to Camponotus boghossiani without comparing type specimens or discussing photos of type specimens of C. kiesenwetteri, C. k. nitidescens and C. boghossiani.

Type Material
Salata et al. (2019) - Syntype workers, Kefalonia, Greece (syntypes personally investigated, CASENT0910437 and CASENT0910438)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
 * Emery C. 1914. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Bearbeitung von O. Leonhard's Sammlungen. 5. Südeuropäische Ameisen (Hym.). Entomologische Mitteilungen. Berlin-Dahlem 3: 156-159.
 * Forel A. 1910. Glanures myrmécologiques. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 54: 6-32.
 * Salata S., A. C. Loss, C. Karaman, K. Kiran, and L. Borowiec. 2019. Review of the Camponotus kiesenwetteri group (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Aegean with the description of a new species. ZooKeys 899: 85-107.
 * Salata S., and L Borowiec. 2017. Species of Tetramorium semilaeve complex from Balkans and western Turkey, with description of two new species of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 62:279–313.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2018. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131.