Camponotus staryi

Pashaei Rad et al. (2018) found this species in Iran in a garden under tree in a low rainfall area.

Identification
Radchenko (1997) - A member of the Camponotus lateralis species group.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Iran, Iraq.

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus (Myrmentoma) staryi Pisarski, 1971b: 730, figs. 6-9 (w.) IRAQ.
 * Status as species: Bolton, 1995b: 125; Radchenko, 1996b: 1197 (in key); Radchenko, 1997b: 708; Paknia, et al. 2010: 31; Borowiec, L. 2014: 43.

Taxonomic Notes
Seifert (2019): This taxon has been described from Northern Iraq. The holotype, a minor worker, is depicted in AntWeb.org under CASENT0917233 and is labeled ‘Iraq Sari Rash nr Salahuddin Kurdistan 10.7.1968 leg. Stary 322’, ‘Holotyp’, ‘Camponotus staryi sp. n. det B. Pisarski’ and ‘ANTWEB CASENT0917223’. The type locality is situated at 36.409°N, 44.317°E, 980 m and thus 1250 km east of the type locality of Camponotus anatolicus Karaman & Aktac 2013 in W Anatolia. The holotype of C. staryi shows a high similarity to minor workers from the holotype nest of Camponotus anatolicus which I could examine. Considering the images in AntWeb.org as well as Pisarski’s drawing of the holotype in the original description, the interspecific differences verbally described by Karaman & Aktac (2013) appear most doubtful. The only morphological argument for a possible heterospecificity is the wider petiole in the C. staryi holotype: PeW/CS1.25 was calculated from the AntWeb.org images as 0.418 whereas it is 0.304–0.381 in 9 specimens of C. anatolicus (Tab. 2). I refrain here from a synonymization of the two taxa because of the very poor data basis and the rather high geographic distance of the type localities.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
 * Paknia O., and M. Pfeiffer. 2011. Hierarchical partitioning of ant diversity: implications for conservation of biogeographical diversity in arid and semi-arid areas. Diversity and Distributions 17: 122-131.
 * Pashaei Rad S., B. Taylor, R. Torabi, E. Aram, G. Abolfathi, R. Afshari, F. Borjali, M. Ghatei, F. Hediary, F. Jazini, V. Heidary Kiah, Z. Mahmoudi, F. Safariyan, and M. Seiri. 2018. Further records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Iran. Zoology in the Middle East 64(2): 145-159.
 * Radchenko A. G. 1997. A review of ants of the subgenus Myrmentoma, Genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), from Asian Palaearctic. Entomological Review 77(8): 1050-1059.
 * Seifert B. 2019. A taxonomic revision of the members of the Camponotus lateralis species group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Europe, Asia Minor and Caucasia. Soil Organisms 91:7–32.