Camponotus aegyptiacus Emery, 1915

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Mohamed, Amr A., Fisher, Brian L. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2020, A Preliminary Synopsis of the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Qatar with Remarks on the Zoogeography, Annales Zoologici 70 (4), pp. 533-560 : 537-539

Camponotus aegyptiacus Emery, 1915

Figure 3. Tapinoma simrothi , worker, A, body in profile B, body in dorsal view C, head in full-face view, CASENT0263927 (Estella Ortega), www.AntWeb.org.

( Fig. 5 A–C)

Camponotus maculatus subsp. aegyptiacus Emery, 1915: 79 (w.) Egypt. Palearctic.

Diagnosis. Worker. Like many species of the genus, C. aegyptiacus is a strongly polymorphic species; small workers are clear yellow; large workers are dark brown to black-brown. The species can be separated from other Arabian species and specifically from its congener C. maculatus ( Fabricius, 1782) by the presence of three yellow blotches on each side of the gaster that merge laterally; underside of head with few gular setae (6–10), whereas C. maculatus has two to three discretegastral blotches on each side and underside of head with numerous setae (more than 10) Previous records. Doha, 25°17.124’N, 51°31.86’E, 05.x.1982, 8 w; Doha, 25°17.124’N, 51°31.86’E, 03.iv. 1983, 6 w; Al Zubarah , 25°58.794’N, 51°1.602’E, 11.iii. 1984, 15 w; Al Khor, 25°40.824’N, 51°29.814’E, 02.iv. 1985, 7 w, (Abdo and Shaumer 1985).

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Geographic distribution. This species was originally described from Egypt and is known from West, East and Northeast Africa ( Sharaf 2006) and the Arabian Peninsula, including KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen ( Collingwood and Agosti 1996), and Qatar (Abdo and Shaumer 1985, Abdel-Dayem 2007).

Ecological and biological notes. This species is omnivorous ( Sharaf 2006), frequently foraging at night ( Collingwood 1985).

Figures

Figure 5. Camponotus aegyptiacus, large worker, A, body in profile B, body in dorsal view C, head in full-face view, CASENT0280281 (Ryan Perry), www.AntWeb.org.