Camponotus obscuripes

This species is found in forested areas. It nests in dead portions of standing trees or in rotting wood. The black woodpecker Dryocopus martius feeds preferentially on C. obscuripes in Hokkaido, Japan (Japanese Ant Image Database).

Identification
This species resembles Camponotus hemichlaena, but is distinguished by its red pronotum (pronotum black in hemichlaena). Color variation is seen in some populations. For example, the body is almost black except for the petiole and adjacent areas which are reddish in Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan; or completely black at Mt. Kuju, Kyushu. In these cases C. obscuripes is distinguished from other black Japanese Camponotus species, except Camponotus yessensis, by the short pubescence on its 2nd gastral tergite. C. obscuripes is distributed from lowland to mountain areas. The high mountain populations tend to be darker in color than lowland ones.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: China, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation.

Fungi

 * This taxon is a host for the fungi, and  (Shrestha et al., 2017).

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus ligniperdus var. obscuripes Mayr, 1879: 645 (s.w.) JAPAN.
 * André, 1903: 128 (q.m.).
 * Combination in C. (Camponotus): Emery, 1925b: 73.
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1896d: 372 (in list); Wheeler, W.M. 1906c: 325; Yano, 1910: 422; Wheeler, W.M. 1928d: 117; Teranishi, 1940: 25; Morisita, 1945: 22; Azuma, 1951: 88.
 * Subspecies of ligniperda: Dalla Torre, 1893: 240; Forel, 1900e: 270; Forel, 1901h: 70; Forel, 1907e: 19.
 * Subspecies of herculeanus: Emery, 1908a: 185; Emery, 1925b: 73; Kono & Sugihara, 1939: 9; Teranishi, 1940: 71; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 221.
 * Status as species: Yasumatsu & Brown, 1951: 38; Azuma, 1953: 5; Azuma, 1955: 80; Yasumatsu & Brown, 1957: 50; Collingwood, 1962: 220; Arnol'di, 1967: 1823; Collingwood, 1976: 307; Azuma, 1977: 116; Onoyama, 1980: 200; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 171; Morisita, et al. 1991: 41; Bolton, 1995b: 114; Radchenko, 1996b: 1202 (in key); Radchenko, 1997a: 557; Terayama, 1999b: 29 (in key); Imai, et al. 2003: 39; Radchenko, 2005b: 160; Ran & Zhou, 2011: 69; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 29.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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