Camponotus sexguttatus

This widespread, synanthropic species is quite variable in color, head sculpture and mesosomal structure.

Identification
Majors and minors of this species can be recognized by the deeply depressed metanotal suture. The scapes of the majors, minors, and females have numerous erect hairs. The minor usually has erect hairs on the posterior margin, along the sides of the head, on the cheeks, and on the clypeus. The major and female usually have erect hairs only on the posterior margin, vertex, between the frontal carinae, and usually lack hairs on the sides of the head, on the cheeks, and on the clypeus. The workers and females range in color or from completely black, to brown, to bicolored (head and mesosoma red, gaster black). The gaster usually has lateral yellow splotches on each gastral tergite.

Distribution
Native range from Argentina to Nicaragua, plus the Caribbean. It has also become established in Florida and Hawaii. In Florida it is known from a few collections in Dade and Broward counties. Nests were in saw grass stems at the edge of marshy areas. Pest status: none. No previous published records; earlier specimens: 1993. (Deyrup, Davis & Cover, 2000.)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Greater Antilles, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Honduras, Lesser Antilles, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Uruguay.

Biology
Camponotus sexguttatus is common in disturbed and edge habitats throughout the neotropics.

Brazil
Schmid et al. (2014) found this ant nesting in infructescences (the stem and remains of buds and fruits above the level of the water reservoir in the rosette) of the bromeliad Vriesea friburgensis on Santa Catarina Island, Brazil.

DaRocha et al. (2015) studied the diversity of ants found in bromeliads of a single large tree of Erythrina, a common cocoa shade tree, at an agricultural research center in Ilhéus, Brazil. Forty-seven species of ants were found in 36 of 52 the bromeliads examined. Bromeliads with suspended soil and those that were larger had higher ant diversity. C. sexguttatus was found in 2 different bromeliads but was associated with twigs and bark cavities, rather than suspended soil or litter, of the plants.

Florida
Camponotus sexguttatus has been collected a number of times in Florida but is apparently a recent arrival. The earliest collection records are from 1993. Nests were found in saw grass stems at the edge of marshy areas (Deyrup et al. 2000). A nest was also discovered in an exotic acacia species in Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom (Wetterer and Wetterer 2003).

West Indies
Wheeler (1908) reported the following about this species:

The female specimen on which Fabricius based this beautiful species, came from Santa, Cruz, one of the Virgin Islands. It has since been found to be widely distributed through tropical America. Forel has described its habits and figured its nest in Biologia Centro Amer. Hymen. III, 1899-1900, p. 155, PI. II, Fig. 6. " It lives either in hollow twigs of trees and bushes; in bark, or in nests of coarse, loose carton, which it builds around the stems of grasses in the savannahs by agglutinating the thread-like particles of grasses and other debris. These nests are very primitive and not very populous. They resemble the webs mixed with debris constructed by certain spiders. I observed these nests in Martinique, but never in Barbados, where the same species lives in hollow stems and under bark, never in carton."

In Culebra and Porto Rico I also failed to find any carton nests of C. sexguttatus but found it repeatedly in hollow twigs, especially of the sea-grape. It uses a small amount of carton, however, in constructing at end of the broken twig a diaphragm which has a round opening to serve as an entrance. Sometimes the diaphragm is flat, (Fig. 4a) in other cases produced as a cone (Fig. 4b). At Coamo Springs a number of workers were seen on the flowers of Serjeania lucida.

Costa Rica
Jack Longino - I know this species from relatively few collections. They have all been from very weedy open areas. The species seems to have small colonies in very ephemeral nest sites. At Sirena in Corcovado National Park I found workers while collecting at night in an old guava plantation. Another time I was collecting in an area of open Sida and grasses, and down in the leaf litter I found an aggregation of workers, some brood, and a queen. Several minor workers were dragging the queen to and fro. There was no nest structure. At La Selva Biological Station the species is only known from around the lab clearing and administration area. Ronald Vargas found a nest in a rolled Heliconia leaf. Alate queens have been taken at the lab clearing blacklight (3 March 1989).

Nomenclature

 * albofasciata. Formica albofasciata Smith, F. 1862b: 29 (w.) PANAMA.
 * Combination in Camponotus: Mayr, 1886c: 362.
 * Status as species: Mayr, 1863: 411.
 * Junior synonym of ruficeps Fabricius: Mayr, 1886c: 362; Dalla Torre, 1893: 250; Forel, 1895b: 104.
 * Junior synonym of sexguttatus: Emery, 1894f: 2; Emery, 1896d: 375; Forel, 1899c: 155; Wheeler, W.M. 1908a: 156; Emery, 1925b: 152; Kempf, 1972a: 58; Bolton, 1995b: 123.
 * bimaculata. Formica bimaculata Smith, F. 1858b: 50 (w.) ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES (St Vincent I.).
 * Combination in Camponotus: Roger, 1863b: 4.
 * Junior synonym of ruficeps: Roger, 1862c: 285; Roger, 1863b: 4; Mayr, 1863: 401; Mayr, 1865: 38; Mayr, 1886c: 356; Dalla Torre, 1893: 250; Forel, 1895b: 104.
 * Subspecies of sexguttatus: Forel, 1907a: 34; Forel, 1909a: 265; Forel, 1912i: 87.
 * Junior synonym of ruficeps: Wheeler, W.M. 1905b: 134.
 * Junior synonym of sexguttatus: Emery, 1894f: 2; Emery, 1896d: 375; Forel, 1899c: 155; Wheeler, W.M. 1908a: 156; Forel, 1909b: 57; Wheeler, W.M. 1923c: 6; Emery, 1925b: 152; Kempf, 1972a: 58; Bolton, 1995b: 89.
 * fusciceps. Camponotus sexguttatus var. fusciceps Emery, 1906c: 192 (s.w.) BRAZIL (Mato Grosso), PARAGUAY, ARGENTINA (Formosa), BOLIVIA.
 * [Misspelled as fuscipes by Forel, 1911c: 310; Eidmann, 1936b: 96.]
 * Combination in C. (Myrmosphincta): Wheeler, W.M. 1916c: 14.
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Wheeler, W.M. 1923c: 9 (in key).
 * Subspecies of sexguttatus: Forel, 1911c: 310; Santschi, 1916e: 397; Wheeler, W.M. 1916c: 14; Wheeler, W.M. 1923a: 5; Emery, 1925b: 152; Borgmeier, 1927c: 151; Eidmann, 1936b: 96; Kusnezov, 1952d: 224; Kempf, 1972a: 58; Bolton, 1995b: 101.
 * Junior synonym of sexguttatus: Wild, 2007b: 48.
 * grenadensis. Camponotus sexguttatus var. grenadensis Forel, 1897b: 297 (s.w.q.) GRENADA.
 * Combination in C. (Myrmosphincta): Emery, 1925b: 152.
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Wheeler, W.M. 1923c: 8 (in key).
 * Subspecies of ruficeps: Wheeler, W.M. 1905b: 135.
 * Subspecies of sexguttatus: Forel, 1902b: 172; Wheeler, W.M. 1911b: 170; Wheeler, W.M. 1923c: 6 (redescription); Kempf, 1972a: 58.
 * Junior synonym of biguttatus: Emery, 1898a: 226; Emery, 1925b: 152; Bolton, 1995b: 102.
 * Junior synonym of sexguttatus: Wetterer, et al. 2016: 10 (in text).
 * griseus. Phasmomyrmex buchneri var. griseus Santschi, 1937b: 103 (w.) CAMEROON.
 * [Junior secondary homonym of Camponotus (Colobopsis) leonardi var. grisea Karavaiev, 1929c: 243.]
 * Subspecies of buchneri: Bolton, 1995b: 316.
 * Replacement name: Camponotus buchneri subsp. camerounensis Ward, et al. 2016: 349.
 * ruficeps. Formica ruficeps Fabricius, 1804: 404 (s.) (no state data, “Habitat in America meridionali”).
 * Combination in Camponotus: Roger, 1862c: 285.
 * Status as species: Smith, F. 1858b: 49; Mayr, 1863: 401; Roger, 1863b: 4; Mayr, 1865: 38; Mayr, 1870a: 373 (in key); Mayr, 1884: 30; Forel, 1893g: 333; Dalla Torre, 1893: 250; Forel, 1895b: 104; Luederwaldt, 1918: 51.
 * Synonym of sexguttatus: Wheeler, W.M. 1905b: 134.
 * [Note: Wheeler, W.M. 1905b: 134, gives ruficeps as senior synonym, but sexguttatus has priority.]
 * Junior synonym of sexguttatus: Emery, 1894f: 2; Emery, 1896d: 375; Forel, 1899c: 155; Forel, 1905b: 161; Emery, 1906c: 192; Wheeler, W.M. 1908a: 156; Forel, 1909b: 57; Emery, 1925b: 152; Kempf, 1972a: 58; Bolton, 1995b: 121.
 * ruficeps. Formica ruficeps Smith, F. 1857a: 54 (s.w.) BORNEO (East Malaysia: Sarawak).
 * [Misspelled as reficeps by Chapman & Capco, 1951: 224.]
 * [Junior primary homonym of Formica ruficeps Fabricius, 1804: 404.]
 * Combination in Camponotus: Roger, 1862c: 285;
 * combination in Colobopsis: Mayr, 1886c: 354.
 * Status as species: Smith, F. 1858b: 24; Mayr, 1863: 420; Roger, 1862c: 285.
 * Replacement name: Camponotus gilviceps Roger, 1863b: 3.

Wild (2007) reports upon the status of this form in Paraguay and succinctly states some more general issues involving this ant's nomenclature and texonomony: Camponotus sexguttatus is a common ant throughout the neotropics, particularly in disturbed or edge habitats, that has accumulated an unfortunate number of infraspecific taxa. These names usually pertain to minor color differences. While C. sexguttatus in the broad sense may actually contain a number of cryptic species over the full range of the group, there is little chance that the current haphazard assortment of subspecies and varieties accurately represents them. Literature records from Paraguay include both C. sexguttatus (Forel 1906, Forel 1907b [as “bimaculatus”], Kempf 1972) and C.sexguttatus var. fusciceps (Emery 1906, Kempf 1972). Examination of the specimens at on which the records are based shows both to belong to the single common species that I have been calling C. sexguttatus. A proper taxonomic study may eventually show that the forms from subtropical South America should have a different name, as the type of C. sexguttatus is Antillean in origin, far to the north.

Description
The combination of being widespread and highly variable has led to the creation of many names for this form. Oddly enough there does not appear to be a clear and detailed description that unambiguously defines each caste of this species. The earliest descriptions were vague. Most varieties are noted by brief remarks about differences from the type and do not include more thorough descriptions.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Battirola, L.E., M.I. Marques, J. Adis and J.H.C. Delabie. 2005. Composicao da comunidade de Formicidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) em copas de Attalea phalerata Mart. Composic?a?o da comunidade de Formicidae (Insecta, Hymenoptera) em copas de Attalea phalerata Mart. (Arecaceae), no Pantanal de Pocone?, Mato Grosso, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 49(1): 107-117.
 * Boer P. 2019. Ants of Curacao, species list. Accessed on January 22 2019 at http://www.nlmieren.nl/websitepages/SPECIES%20LIST%20CURACAO.html
 * Boer P. 2019. Ants of Saba, species list. Accessed on January 22 2019 at http://www.nlmieren.nl/websitepages/SPECIES%20LIST%20SABA.html
 * Brandao, C.R.F. 1991. Adendos ao catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao neotropical (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35: 319-412.
 * Bruch C. 1914. Catálogo sistemático de los formícidos argentinos. Revista del Museo de La Plata 19: 211-234.
 * Corassa J. N., I. C. Magistrali, J. C. Moreno, E. B. Cantarelli, and A. Corassa. Effect of formicid granulated baits on non-target ants biodiversity in eucalyptus plantations litter. Comunicata Scientiae 4(1): 35-42.
 * Costa-Milanez C. B., F. F. Ribeiro, P. T. A. Castro, J. D. Majer, S. P. Ribeiro. 2015. Effct of fire on ant assemblages in Brazilian Cerrado in areas containing Vereda wetlands. Sociobiology 62(4): 494-505.
 * Davidson, D.W. 2005. Ecological stoichiometry of ants in a New World rain forest. Oecologia 142:221-231
 * Emery C. 1894. Camponotus sexguttatus Fab. e C. sexguttatus Sm. et auct. Bollettino dei Musei di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparata della Reale Università di Torino 9(187): 1-4.
 * Emery C. 1894. Estudios sobre las hormigas de Costa Rica. Anales del Museo Nacional de Costa Rica 1888-1889: 45-64.
 * Emery C. 1906. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. XXVI. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 37: 107-194.
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Forel A. 1886. Indian ants of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, No. 2. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal Part II Nat. Sci. 55: 239-249.
 * Forel A. 1897. Quelques Formicides de l'Antille de Grenada récoltés par M. H. H. Smith. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. 1897: 297-300.
 * Forel A. 1902. Quatre notices myrmécologiques. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 46: 170-182.
 * Forel A. 1906. Fourmis néotropiques nouvelles ou peu connues. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 50: 225-249.
 * Forel A. 1907. Formicides du Musée National Hongrois. Ann. Hist.-Nat. Mus. Natl. Hung. 5: 1-42.
 * Forel A. 1908. Ameisen aus Sao Paulo (Brasilien), Paraguay etc. gesammelt von Prof. Herm. v. Ihering, Dr. Lutz, Dr. Fiebrig, etc. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 58: 340-418.
 * Forel A. 1909. Ameisen aus Guatemala usw., Paraguay und Argentinien (Hym.). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1909: 239-269.
 * Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
 * Galkowski C. 2016. New data on the ants from the Guadeloupe (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 151, 44(1): 25-36.
 * Jaffe, K., J. Lattke and R. Perez-Hernandez. 1993. Ants on the tepuies of the Guiana Shield: A zoogeographic study. Ecotropicos 6(1):22-29.
 * Jaffe, K., Mauleon, H. and Kermarrec A. 1990. Predatory Ants of Diaprepes Abbreviatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) In Citrus Groves In Martinique and Guadeloupe, F.W.I. Florida Entomologist. 73(4):684-687.
 * Jaffe, Klaus and Lattke, John. 1994. Ant Fauna of the French and Venezuelan Islands in the Caribbean in Exotic Ants, editor D.F. Williams. 182-190.
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Kusnezov N. 1952. El género Camponotus en la Argentina (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Acta Zoologica Lilloana 12: 183-252.
 * Kusnezov N. 1953. La fauna mirmecológica de Bolivia. Folia Universitaria. Cochabamba 6: 211-229.
 * Kusnezov N. 1962. El vuelo nupcial de las hormigas. Acta Zoologica Lilloana 18: 385-442.
 * Kusnezov N. 1978. Hormigas argentinas: clave para su identificación. Miscelánea. Instituto Miguel Lillo 61:1-147 + 28 pl.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
 * Luederwaldt H. 1918. Notas myrmecologicas. Rev. Mus. Paul. 10: 29-64.
 * Lutinski J. A., B. C. Lopes, and A. B. B.de Morais. 2013. Diversidade de formigas urbanas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de dez cidades do sul do Brasil. Biota Neotrop. 13(3): 332-342.
 * Maes, J.-M. and W.P. MacKay. 1993. Catalogo de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de Nicaragua. Revista Nicaraguense de Entomologia 23.
 * Menozzi C, Russo G. 1930. Contributo alla conoscenza della mirmecofauna della Repubblica Dominicana (Antille). Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della Reale Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura. Portici. 24: 148-173.
 * Pereira M. C., J. H. C. Delabie, Y. R. Suarez, and W. F. Antonialli Junior. 2013. Spatial connectivity of aquatic macrophytes and flood cycle influence species richness of an ant community of a Brazilian floodplain. Sociobiology 60(1): 41-49.
 * Perez-Gelabert D. E. 2008. Arthropods of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti): A checklist and bibliography. Zootaxa 1831:1-530.
 * Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.
 * Radoszkowsky O. 1884. Fourmis de Cayenne Française. Trudy Russkago Entomologicheskago Obshchestva 18: 30-39.
 * Rosa da Silva R. 1999. Formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) do oeste de Santa Catarina: historico das coletas e lista atualizada das especies do Estado de Santa Catarina. Biotemas 12(2): 75-100.
 * Salazar F., and D. A. Donoso. 2013. New ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) records for Ecuador deposited at the Carl Rettenmeyer ant collection in the QCAZ Museum. Boletín Tecnico 11, Serie Zoológica 8-9: 151  177.
 * Santschi F. 1912. Quelques fourmis de l'Amérique australe. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 20: 519-534.
 * Santschi F. 1916. Formicides sudaméricains nouveaux ou peu connus. Physis (Buenos Aires). 2: 365-399.
 * Santschi F. 1939. Résultats scientifiques des croisières du navire-école belge, "Mercator". XIV. Formicidae s. lt. Mémoires du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique. (2)15: 159-167.
 * Schmid V. S., S. Langner, J. Steiner, and A. Zillikens. 2014. Inflorescences of the Bromeliad Vriesea friburgensis as Nest Sites and Food Resources for Ants and Other Arthropods in Brazil. Psyche http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/396095
 * Silva F. H. O., J. H. C. Delabie, G. B. dos Santos, E. Meurer, and M. I. Marques. 2013. Mini-Winkler Extractor and Pitfall Trap as Complementary Methods to Sample Formicidae. Neotrop Entomol 42: 351358.
 * Smith M. R. 1937. The ants of Puerto Rico. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 20: 819-875.
 * Snelling R. 1993. Ants of Guana Island, British Virgin Islands. Notes From Underground 8: 11-12.
 * Snelling R. R. 2005. Wasps, ants, and bees: aculeate Hymeoptera. Pp. 283-296 in: Lazell, J. 2005. Island. Fact and theory in nature. Berkeley: University of California Press, xx + 382 pp.
 * Torres J.A. 1984. Niches and Coexistence of Ant Communities in Puerto Rico: Repeated Patterns. Biotropica 16(4): 284-295.
 * Torres, Juan A. and Roy R. Snelling. 1997. Biogeography of Puerto Rican ants: a non-equilibrium case?. Biodiversity and Conservation 6:1103-1121.
 * Vittar, F. 2008. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la Mesopotamia Argentina. INSUGEO Miscelania 17(2):447-466
 * Vittar, F., and F. Cuezzo. "Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina." Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina (versión On-line ISSN 1851-7471) 67, no. 1-2 (2008).
 * Wheeler W. M. 1905. The ants of the Bahamas, with a list of the known West Indian species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 21: 79-135.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1908. The ants of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 24: 117-158.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1918. Ants collected in British Guiana by Mr. C. William Beebe. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 26: 23-28.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1942. Studies of Neotropical ant-plants and their ants. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 90: 1-262.
 * Wheeler W. M., and W. M. Mann. 1914. The ants of Haiti. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 33: 1-61.
 * Wheeler, William Morton. 1923. Report on the Ants. The University of Iowa Studies in Natural History. 10(3):3-9.
 * Wild, A. L.. "A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Zootaxa 1622 (2007): 1-55.
 * Zolessi L. C. de, Y. P. Abenante, and M. E. de Philippi. 1988. Lista sistematica de las especies de Formicidos del Uruguay. Comun. Zool. Mus. Hist. Nat. Montev. 11: 1-9.
 * Zolessi L. C. de; Y. P. de Abenante, and M. E. Philippi. 1989. Catálogo sistemático de las especies de Formícidos del Uruguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Montevideo: ORCYT Unesco, 40 + ix pp.
 * de Almeida Soares S., Y. R. Suarez, W. D. Fernandes, P. M. Soares Tenorio, J. H. C. Delabie, and W. F. Antonialli-Junior. 2013. Temporal variation in the composition of ant assemblages (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on trees in the Pantanal floodplain, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Rev. Bras. entomol. 57: 84-90
 * de Zolessi, L.C., Y.P. de Abenante and M.E. Philippi. 1987. Lista sistemática de las especies de formícidos del Uruguay. Comunicaciones Zoologicas del Museo de Historia Natural de Montevideo 11(165):1-9
 * de Zolessi, L.C., Y.P. de Abenante and M.E. Phillipi. 1989. Catalago Systematico de las Especies de Formicidos del Uruguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Oficina Regional de Ciencia y Technologia de la Unesco para America Latina y el Caribe- ORCYT. Montevideo, Uruguay