Camponotus laconicus

Camponotus laconicus is a rare, thermophilous species, mostly recorded from warm, dry pine forests, and is endemic to Greece. It is also occasionally collected from Mediterranean shrubs along roadsides, stream valleys or gorges with plane trees. Nests are always under large stones, often on the sunny and arid edges of forests as well as in urban areas and on sunny roadsides inside mixed and fir forests (Borowiec & Salata, 2021). Workers are active mainly at dawn.

Identification
A member of the Camponotus samius species complex (Tanaemyrmex).

Salata et al. (2020) - Hind tibia and scape with decumbent to suberect pilosity but without additional erect setae; gena with numerous erect setae; mesosoma, head, and gaster in major and minor workers uniformly black; sometimes legs in minor workers partly reddish brown; gaster in major and minor workers without brighter colouration on its basal part; pilosity on gaster sparse and thin, distance between microsetae is equal to full lengths of microsetae, erect setae very dense; petiolar squama in major workers stout with distinctly convex anterior surface, in minor workers triangular in profile.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Greece.

Nomenclature

 * . Camponotus (Myrmoturba) samius var. laconicus Emery, 1920c: 6.
 * [First available use of Camponotus maculatus subsp. samius var. laconica Emery, 1908a: 192 (s.w.) GREECE; unavailable (infrasubspecific) name.]
 * Combination in C. (Tanaemyrmex): Emery, 1925b: 100.
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Forel, 1911d: 359.
 * Junior synonym of festai: Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, 2014: 138 (error).
 * Subspecies of samius: Emery, 1925b: 100.
 * Status as species: Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 58; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 284 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 107; Petrov, 2006: 109 (in key); Legakis, 2011: 31; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 477; Borowiec, L. 2014: 35; Lebas, et al. 2016: 154; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 44.

Type Material
Salata et al. (2020) - Syntype major and minor workers, Taygetos, Kambos, Greece, v.1901, coll. Holz. Syntype major and minor workers images examined, AntWeb, CASENT0905288 and CASENT0905289, photos by Will Ericson.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Agosti, D. and C.A. Collingwood. 1987. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 60: 51-62
 * Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2012. Ants of Greece - Checklist, comments and new faunistic data (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus 23(4): 461-563.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
 * Forel A. 1911. Fourmis nouvelles ou intéressantes. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 47: 331-400.
 * Legakis Collection Database
 * Salata S., and L Borowiec. 2017. Species of Tetramorium semilaeve complex from Balkans and western Turkey, with description of two new species of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 62:279–313.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131.