Camponotus xerxes

Foragers are common from March to October with a peak in September. Workers were commonly found foraging on Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton (Apocynaceae) (Sharaf et al., 2013).

Identification
The high degree of polymorphism and the large intra- and interspecific variation among the species of Camponotus make determinations often difficult. Camponotus xerxes is closely related to Camponotus fellah Dalla Torre, but can be distinguished by the absence of erect setae on the ventral head surface, whereas in C. fellah there are 1–10 setae (Ionescu-Hirsch, 2009) (Sharaf et al., 2013).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates. Palaearctic Region: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Oman, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

This species was reported from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman (Collingwood 1985; Collingwood and Agosti 1996, Collingwood et al. 2011) (Sharaf et al., 2013).

Nomenclature

 *  xerxes. Camponotus maculatus r. xerxes Forel, 1904f: 424 (w.q.) IRAN. Karavaiev, 1910b: 9 (s.); Forel, 1913d: 434 (m.). Combination in C. (Tanaemyrmex): Emery, 1925b: 99. Synonym of cognatocompressus: Karavaiev, 1910b: 9. Revived from synonymy and raised to species: Pisarski, 1967: 414. Senior synonym of irakensis: Radchenko, 1996b: 1201 (in key); Radchenko, 1997d: 811.
 * irakensis. Camponotus (Tanaemyrmex) compressus subsp. irakensis Menozzi, 1927e: 117, fig. 1 (s.q.m.) IRAQ. Junior synonym of xerxes: Radchenko, 1996b: 1201 (in key).

Additional References

 * [[Media:Sharaf, M.R. et al. 2013. Rawdhat Khorim Nature Preserve.pdf|Sharaf, M. R.; Abdel-Dayem, M. S.; Al Dhafer, H. M.; Aldawood, S. A. 2013. The ants (Hymenoptera:formicidae) of Rawdhat Khorim Nature Preserve, Saudi Arabia, with description of a new species of the genus Tetramorium Mayr. Zootaxa 3709:565-580. PDF]]