Camponotus sylvaticus

This ant has been observed tending larvae of Lampides boeticus (Obregon et al. 2015).

Distribution
Marko et al. (2009) - This species is distributed mainly in southern Europe. According to Radchenko (2007) it can be found in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Bulgaria and Greece. There are two very old records of this species from Romania: CS: Mehadia (Mocsáry 1897) (southern Romania); SM: Pir (Mocsáry 1897) (north-west Romania). The collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, which holds at least part of Mocsáry’s voucher specimens, contains one lightly coloured C. fallax gyne and two C. fallax males labelled as “Peér, 30.04.82”, which were identified by L. Biró as “Camponotus sylvaticus Oliv.”. Peér is the current Pir in Romania, while the date refers to 1882. These are most probably the specimens that Mocsáry refers to in his work, although this cannot be taken for certain. Other voucher material could not be found. C. sylvaticus reproductives could be easily misidentified based on their morphological characters and the lack of appropriate keys. In addition, considering the fact that the species does not occur in the surrounding countries, with the exception of Bulgaria (Radchenko 2007, V. Antonova pers. comm.), C. sylvaticus can be considered to be a species of uncertain Romanian occurrence, although its presence cannot be ruled out.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Canary Islands, France, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greece, Iberian Peninsula, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Turkey.

Fungi
This species is a host for the ectoparastic fungus Laboulbenia camponoti (Espadaler & Santamaria, 2012).

Nomenclature

 *  sylvaticus. Formica sylvatica Olivier, 1792: 491 (q.) FRANCE. Forel, 1874: 38 (s.w.m.); Emery, 1916b: 229 (s.w., in key). Combination in Camponotus: Roger, 1862c: 291; in C. (Myrmoturba): Menozzi, 1922b: 330; in C. (Tanaemyrmex): Emery, 1925b: 100. Subspecies of rubripes: Forel, 1886f: 143; of maculatus: Forel, 1890c: 219; Ruzsky, 1902d: 7; Emery, 1916b: 150. Revived status as species: Bondroit, 1918: 75; Emery, 1920c: 6; Menozzi, 1922b: 330; Santschi, 1931a: 11; Santschi, 1936c: 207; Menozzi, 1939a: 315. Senior synonym of castanipes: Roger, 1863b: 1. Current subspecies: nominal plus basalis, paradichrous.
 * castanipes. Formica castanipes Leach, 1825: 290 (w.q.m.) FRANCE. Junior synonym of sylvaticus: Roger, 1863b: 1.