Camponotus xerxes Forel, 1904

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Al Dhafer, Hathal M. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 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 (6), pp. 565-580 : 570

Camponotus xerxes Forel, 1904

( Fig. 4 e, f )

Camponotus maculatus xerxes Forel, 1904: 424 . Raised to species: Pisarski, 1967: 414.

This species was reported from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates ( UAE) and Oman ( Collingwood 1985; Collingwood and Agosti 1996, Collingwood et al. 2011). Foragers are common from March to October with a peak in September. Workers were commonly found foraging on C. procera .

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 C. fellah Dallah 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).

Figures

FIGURE 4. a, b Cerapachys longitarsus (alate male, type) (CASENT0902740, India); c, d, Camponotus sericeus (CASENT0104896, Guinea); e, f, Camponotus xerxes (after Collingwood et al. 2011, UAE).