Camponotus schaefferi

This carpenter ant nests in dead oak limbs and inside living trunks of half-dead Emory oaks. They are very agile and difficult to capture.

Identification
This is an unusual member of the subgenus Camponotus. The teeth on the anterior border of the clypeus are well-developed, the sides of the head of the major are nearly parallel, or even slightly wider anterior to the eyes, the scapes have erect hairs, but the remainder of the ant has few erect hairs, and the anterior and posterior faces of the petiole are nearly parallel. The entire ant is yellowish-brown or reddish brown. (Mackay and Mackay 2002)

Distribution
Arizona and New Mexico.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States.

Habitat
Scrubby ponderosa pine, Arizona oak, oak pine-juniper woods, oak foothills, from elevations of 1,520 - 2,440 m. (Mackay and Mackay 2002)

Nomenclature

 *  schaefferi. Camponotus schaefferi Wheeler, W.M. 1909e: 88 (s.w.q.) U.S.A. Wheeler, W.M. 1910d: 344 (s.). Combination in C. (Myrmentoma): Emery, 1920b: 257; in C. (Camponotus): Forel, 1914a: 266; Creighton, 1950a: 371.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Cover S. P., and R. A. Johnson. 20011. Checklist of Arizona Ants. Downloaded on January 7th at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/AZants-2011%20updatev2.pdf
 * Degnan, P.H., A.B. Lazarus, C.D. Brock and J.J. Wernegreen. 2004. Host-Symbiont Stability and Fast Evolutionary Rates in an Ant-Bacterium Association:Cospeciation of Camponotus Species and Their Endosymbionts, Candidatus Blochmannia. Systematic Biology 53(1):95-110
 * Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
 * Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
 * Mackay W. P., and E. E. Mackay. 2002. The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 400 pp.
 * Mackay, W.P. and E. Mackay. XXXX. The Ants of New Mexico
 * Wheeler W. M. 1909. A decade of North American Formicidae. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 17: 77-90.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1910. The North American ants of the genus Camponotus Mayr. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 20: 295-354.