Camponotus sericeus

Workers are active throughout Rawdhat Khorim, Saudi Arabia, being abundant from March through October, with a major peak in June. Workers of C. sericeus occur on Acacia trees and on the giant milkweed Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton (Apocynaceae). Several workers have been observed foraging on C. procera plants and attending aphids (Sharaf et al., 2013).

Identification
Ionescu-Hirsch (2009) - This species can be recognized by the robust build (the major worker with very broad head and mesosoma), the coarse sculpture of the head and mesosoma, and by the gaster covered with thick, apressed, golden-mossy pubescence. The head of major workers is truncated posteriorly, with the anterior margin of the clypeus not extending beyond the anterior margin of the gena, broadly rounded and incised medially. The mesosoma has a distinct metanotal groove, the propodeal dorsum is broad and flat, margined laterally and posteriorly, with obtuse teeth.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kenya, Mali, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe. Malagasy Region: Mauritius. Oriental Region: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Palaearctic Region: Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Oman.

Camponotus sericeus is one of the more common carpenter ants of the Arabian Peninsula (Collingwood, 1985; Collingwood and Agosti, 1996; Collingwood et al. 2011). It was originally described from Senegal, recorded from Algeria (Santschi 1929a) and has a broad distribution throughout the Afrotropical region (Wheeler 1922, Taylor 2010). Additional records are from Pakistan (Umair et al., 2012), India, and Ceylon (Collingwood, 1962). This species has also been reported from the Oriental region, e.g. Thailand (Jaitrong and Nabhitabhata, 2005).

Nomenclature

 *  sericeus. Formica sericea Fabricius, 1798: 279 (w.) SENEGAL. Mayr, 1866b: 886 (q.); Forel, 1886f: 192 (m.); Forel, 1891b: 56 (s.w.q.m.); Imai, et al. 1984: 9 (k.). Combination in Camponotus: Mayr, 1862: 675; in Orthonotomyrmex: Ashmead, 1906: 31; in C. (Myrmentoma): Forel, 1912i: 92; in C. (Orthonotomyrmex): Forel, 1913k: 129. Senior synonym of aurulenta, obtusa: Roger, 1863b: 2; of pyrrhocephala: Emery, 1893f: 254. Current subspecies: nominal plus euchrous, peguensis, sanguiniceps, sulgeri.
 * aurulenta. Formica aurulenta Latreille, 1802c: 114, pl. 3, fig. 9 (q.) SENEGAL. Junior synonym of sericeus: Roger, 1863b: 2.
 * pyrrhocephala. Formica pyrrhocephala Motschoulsky, 1863: 11 (w.) SRI LANKA. Junior synonym of sericeus: Emery, 1893f: 254.

Worker
Ionescu-Hirsch (2009) - TL = 7.1–11.1, HL = 1.56–2.86, HW = 1.46–3.48, EL = 0.47–0.78, SL = 1.64–2.21, ML = 2.58–4.02, PW = 1.27–2.30, mTbL = 1.52–2.23, hTbL = 2.19–3.13 (n = 10).