Camponotus novogranadensis

This species has recently been found, as a newly discovered introduction, in Estero, Lee County, Florida (Deyrup and Belmont 2013).

Identification
In the field C. novogranadensis is easily mistaken for Camponotus planatus. Both species are dark-colored, non-glossy, and small (majors are about 5mm long). Camponotus novogranadensis is black, with brown or yellowish brown antennae, clypeus, and the sides of the face above the mandibles. Camponotus planatus is usually bicolored, dark red with a black gaster, but occasionally completely black. Under the microscope these two species are conspicuously different. The clypeus of C. novogranadensis has a strong, sharp, median ridge, absent in C. planatus. The mesosoma of C. novogranadensis is covered with small, semiappressed hairs and large, sparse, curved, proclinate hairs, that of C. planatus moderately densely covered with short, sub-erect hairs. (Deyrup and Belmont 2013)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.

Biology
Nests are in dead wood or hollow stems, usually in disturbed areas (Vasconcelos 1999, Longino 2002; Sanabria-Blandon and Chacon de Ulloa 2009; Ribas et al. 2012). It also occurs in the canopy of primary forest (Longino 2002). This species is listed as an indicator ant species of disturbed habitats (Ribas et al. 2012). In a study of effects of disturbance on ants in central Amazonia, Vasconcelos (1999) found ground-foraging C. novogranadensis in no mature forest plots, in 25% of plots in both old regrowth and new regrowth, and in 100% of plots in abandoned pasture. The diet of C. novogranadensis includes honeydew from Membracidae and Aetalionidae (Letourneau & Choe 1987), and nectar from extrafloral nectaries of orchids, which this species aggressively defends (Damon & Perez-Soriano 2005), and animal protein (in baits) (Vasconcelos 1999). 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.

Nomenclature

 *  novogranadensis. Camponotus novogranadensis Mayr, 1870a: 380 (s.w.) COLOMBIA. Emery, 1906c: 191 (q.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1953e: 192 (l.). Combination in C. (Myrmamblys): Forel, 1912i: 90; in C. (Neomyrmamblys): Santschi, 1921f: 311; in C. (Myrmaphaenus): Emery, 1925b: 156. Current subspecies: nominal plus modestior.