Camponotus sericeus (Fabricius, 1798)

(Fig. 4 c, d)

Formica sericea Fabricius, 1798: 279 . Combination in Camponotus: Mayr, 1862: 675 .

Camponotus sericeus is one of the more common carpenter ants of the Arabian Peninsula (Collingwood, 1985; Collingwood and Agosti, 1996; Collingwood et al. 2011). It was originally described from Senegal, recorded from Algeria (Santschi 1929a) and has a broad distribution throughout the Afrotropical region (Wheeler 1922, Taylor 2010). Additional records are from Pakistan (Umair et al., 2012), India, and Ceylon (Collingwood, 1962). This species has also been reported from the Oriental region, e.g. Thailand (Jaitrong and Nabhitabhata, 2005).

Workers are active throughout Rawdhat Khorim, being abundant from March through October, with a major peak in June. Workers of C. sericeus occur on Acacia trees and on the giant milkweed Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton (Apocynaceae) . Several workers have been observed foraging on C. procera plants and attending aphids.