Camponotus sericeus ( Fabricius, 1798 )

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 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.

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).