Camponotus saxatilis

Zryanin & Zryanina (2007) found this species in boreal forests where it nests in soil.

The species mostly inhabits open sites (forest steppe, mountain steppe, forest edge, grassland), and is also met in different kinds of forest (larch, birch, mixed forests). Nests are built mainly in dead wood (rotten wood, fallen wood dead standing tree, base of dead tree) and under stone (partly in soil). Yamane and Aibek (2007) gave a picture (Fig. 3) of a nest said to be C. japonicus, but the species should be C. saxatilis. Nuptial flight is seen in July and August (15 July 2007, U. Aibek leg.) (Aibek & Yamane, 2009).

Identification
Aibek & Yamane (2009) - Yasumatsu and Brown (1957) did not separate this species from Camponotus japonicus. In the workers this species is easily distinguished from Camponotus herculeanus (as C. sachalinensis) by the almost wholly black body, and long and dense pubescence on gastral tergites; in the male by the shallower apical concavity of petiole with rounded lateral angles. In the queen the two species are very similar, but the metanotum has constantly fewer standing hairs (usually less than 4) in C. saxatilis. In both the queen and male, the forewing of C. saxatilis is more strongly infuscated, with its anterior zone rather strongly darkened.

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

Foraging/Diet
Camponotus saxatilis collect honeydew. Novgorodova (2015b) investigated ant-aphid interactions of a dozen honeydew collecting ant species in Western Siberia pine and aspen-birch-pine forests (54°7´N, 83°06´E, 200 m, Novosibirsk) and mixed-grass-cereal steppes with aspen-birch groves (53°44´N, 78°02´E, 110 m, near Karasuk) in the Novosibirsk Region and coniferous forests in the northeastern Altai (north end of Lake Teletskoe, 51°48´N, 87°17´E, 434 m). All of the ants studied had workers that showed high fidelity to attending particular aphid colonies, i.e, individual foragers that collect honeydew tend to return to the same location, and group of aphids, every time they leave the nest. Camponotus saxatilis also exhibited other forager specialization. Some workers specialized on attending specific aphid colonies. These foragers did collect honeydew but a majority of their time was spent guarding the aphids. Another subset of the foragers showed a tendency to specialize on transporting honeydew as they were more active in soliciting from foragers attending the aphids than typical unspecialized foragers. This in turn allowed those ants attending aphids to remain at the aphid colony and thereby protect it for long periods of time. Camponotus saxatilis tended Symydobius oblongus (Heyden) and Aphis craccivora Koch.

Nomenclature

 *  saxatilis. Camponotus herculeanus subsp. saxatilis Ruzsky, 1895: 7 (w.q.m.) RUSSIA.
 * Arnol'di, 1967: 1825 (s.).
 * Combination in C. (Camponotus): Emery, 1925b: 73.
 * Subspecies of pennsylvanicus: Emery, 1898a: 225; Ruzsky, 1903c: 205; Ruzsky, 1905b: 228.
 * Subspecies of herculeanus: Ruzsky, 1914b: 100; Ruzsky, 1915b: 5; Ruzsky, 1925b: 42.
 * Junior synonym of japonicus: Yasumatsu & Brown, 1951: 36.
 * Status as species: Ruzsky, 1926: 108; Arnol'di, 1967: 1825; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 167; Radchenko, 1994b: 116 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 122; Radchenko, 1996b: 1203 (in key); Radchenko, 1997a: 557; Radchenko, 2005b: 160.