Camponotus dalmaticus

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Camponotus dalmaticus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Camponotini
Genus: Camponotus
Subgenus: Myrmentoma
Species group: lateralis
Species complex: piceus
Species: C. dalmaticus
Binomial name
Camponotus dalmaticus
(Nylander, 1849)

Camponotus dalmaticus casent0080781 profile 1.jpg

Camponotus dalmaticus casent0080781 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Subspecies

This species is distributed almost exclusively in southern Europe, although it can also be found in Switzerland, and occurs as far east as Asia Minor and the Near East (Radchenko 2007). It prefers warm habitats (Marko et al., 2009). This is a common species in Greece and is most often associated with warm borders of deciduous and mixed forests, mediterranean shrubs, and herbs growing along roadsides, as well as from parks in urban areas. Nests are found under stones, in rock crevices, and inside dry and empty stems of large herbs (Borowiec & Salata, 2021).

Identification

Ionescu-Hirsch (2009) - According to Radchenko (1997c), C. dalmaticus belongs to the Camponotus piceus complex of the Camponotus lateralis species group, together with Camponotus abrahami and Camponotus piceus. C. dalmaticus differs from C. abrahami (studied specimens from Lebanon identified by C.A. Collingwood), by the clypeus being incised anteromedially, as opposed to entire, by the presence of a metanotal groove, as opposed to a lack of such, and by a red mesosoma (at least pronotum), as opposed to a completely black mesosoma. It differs from C. piceus by the presence of a single transverse row of erect setae on the junction of the propodeal dorsum with declivity, as opposed to the erect setae scattered all over the propodeal dorsum in the latter species (see also Emery, 1925a). C. dalmaticus has the clypeus incised anteriorly and the arrangement pattern of the propodeal setae similar to Camponotus lateralis and Camponotus rebeccae but it differs from these species in its black head and gaster, whereas C. lateralis and C. rebeccae have the head always paler than the gaster. It further differs from C. rebeccae by its deeply impressed, as opposed to shallow, metanotal groove; a difference especially marked in major workers, by its propodeal dorsum flat or concave posteriorly, as opposed to convex, and by a slightly broader petiolar scale: the ratio of maximum petiolar width to pronotum width = 0.47–0.60 (n = 33), as opposed to 0.41–0.53 (n = 47).

Seifert, 2019: See key. Two major workers are depicted in AntWeb.org under CASENT0179601 (the most frequent color morph) and CASENT0906110 (the rare, entirely black color morph).

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Ionescu-Hirsch (2009) - Mainly in southeastern Europe, although also found in Switzerland, Turkey (Asia Minor), and the Near East (Radchenko, 2007).

Marko et al. (2009) - In Romania this species is known from a single location: Mehadia (Mocsáry 1897) in Caraş-Severin County in southern Romania. The reference material could not be verified. C. dalmaticus has nonetheless clear morphological characters that could hardly allow its misidentification, and it is also present in neighbouring countries. We thus consider it as a likely species for Romania until further evidence is acquired.

Seifert, 2019: The range extends northwest over north Italy to south Switzerland. The northernmost site reported by Kutter (1977) is Ruvigliana near Lugano [46.00°N, 8.99° E, 400 m]. The species is unknown so far from Asia Minor.

This is a northern and western species in Greece, known from all mainland provinces, and Aegean and Ionian islands (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 46.005° to 32.13333333°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Syria, Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Flight Period

X X
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: antkeeping.info.

Castes

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • dalmaticus. Formica dalmatica Nylander, 1849: 37 (w.) CROATIA (Lastovo I., “Ex insula Dalmatica Lagosta”).
    • [Misspelled as dalmatinus by Müller, 1923b: 164.]
    • Forel, 1913d: 436 (q.m.).
    • Combination in Camponotus: Mayr, 1863: 399; Roger, 1863b: 1;
    • combination in C. (Orthonotomyrmex): Müller, 1923b: 164;
    • combination in C. (Myrmentoma): Menozzi, 1921: 32; Emery, 1925b: 120;
    • combination in Orthonotomyrmex: Novák & Sadil, 1941: 109 (in key).
    • As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1916b: 226.
    • Junior synonym of lateralis: Mayr, 1855: 322; Nylander, 1856b: 58; Smith, F. 1858b: 12 (first entry, see below); Mayr, 1863: 399; Roger, 1863b: 1; Dours, 1873: 164; André, 1874: 201 (in list); Forel, 1874: 97 (in list).
    • Subspecies of lateralis: Forel, 1874: 40; Emery & Forel, 1879: 449; André, 1882a: 151 (in key); Forel, 1886e: clxvii; Forel, 1892i: 306; Dalla Torre, 1893: 238; Emery, 1896d: 373 (in list); Emery, 1898c: 125; Forel, 1913d: 436; Emery, 1914d: 159; Menozzi, 1921: 32; Müller, 1923b: 164; Emery, 1925a: 69; Emery, 1925b: 120; Ceballos, 1956: 312.
    • Status as species: Smith, F. 1858b: 12 (second entry, see above); Finzi, 1927b: 52 (in key); Finzi, 1930d: 318; Santschi, 1934d: 281; Zimmermann, 1935: 60; Novák & Sadil, 1941: 109 (in key); Kutter, 1963: 130; Kutter, 1968a: 60; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 189; Aktaç, 1977: 126; Kutter, 1977c: 207; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 58; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 283 (in key); Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 224; Collingwood, 1993b: 195; Bolton, 1995b: 95; Poldi, et al. 1995: 7; Csösz, & Markó, 2005: 227; Bračko, 2006: 145; Markó, Sipos, et al. 2006: 66; Petrov, 2006: 108 (in key); Bračko, 2007: 19; Radchenko, 2007: 37; Werner & Wiezik, 2007: 156; Vonshak, et al. 2009: 38; Ionescu-Hirsch, 2010: 67; Lapeva-Gjonova, et al. 2010: 42; Karaman, M.G. 2011b: 69; Legakis, 2011: 30; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 474; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 6; Karaman, C. & Aktaç, 2013: 51 (in key); Borowiec, L. 2014: 29; Bračko, et al. 2014: 18; Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, 2014: 138; Lebas, et al. 2016: 138; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 43; Seifert, 2018: 261; Seifert, 2019b: 22.
    • Current subspecies: nominal plus rhodius.

Type Material

Seifert, 2019: Investigated were two syntypes on different pins, a major and minor worker, labeled ‘Lagusta \ Zeller \ Coll.Nyldr \ Lagosta [handwritten]\ H:fors Spec. typ. No 50** Formica dalmatica Nyl’, FMNH Helsinki. The syntypes have identical labels except for ‘Spec. typ. No’ which are ‘5089’ and ‘5090’ respectively.

Taxonomic Notes

Seifert, 2019: The syntypes represent typical specimens in shape, structure and pigmentation. Running them as wildcards in a 5-class LDA, they were allocated with a mean posterior probability of p = 0.9996 to the 24 nest samples classified here as C. dalmaticus, whereas all other four species with completely blackish vertex and low RipD presented in Tab. 3 were clearly excluded (for Camponotus ebneri).

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Ionescu-Hirsch (2009) - TL = 4.3–6.1, HL = 1.04–1.70, HW = 0.87–1.52, EL = 0.25–0.33, SL = 1.02–1.30, ML = 1.48–2.03, PW = 0.74–1.07, mTbL = 0.81–1.09, hTbL = 1.04–1.50 (n = 15).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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