Camponotus kutteri

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Camponotus kutteri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Camponotini
Genus: Camponotus
Subgenus: Myrmamblys
Species group: inquilinus
Species: C. kutteri
Binomial name
Camponotus kutteri
Forel, 1915

Camponotus kutteri casent0910520 p 1 high.jpg

Camponotus kutteri casent0910520 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Only known from the type locality on Simeulue Island, Indonesia (Zettel et al., 2018).

Identification

Zettel et al. (2018): Trunk, antennae and legs black; only mandibles orange; tergites with narrow but distinct pale hind margins. – Minor worker: Body matt to moderately shiny. Vertex moderately high. Posterior margin of clypeus concave. Dorsal outline of mesosoma strongly convex, with a shallow depression between mesonotum and propodeum.

Major worker: Head squared, about as long as wide; strongly shiny, with scattered punctures; some notably large punctures on frons.

The species fits relatively well in the species group, except for the distinct pale yellowish hind margins of gaster tergites in both major and minor workers, which resemble some species of Myrmamblys. The major worker strongly differs from other related black species by the shiny head, the minor worker by the more concave base of the clypeus.

Further notes: Forel (1915) described all morphs including males. He compared C. kutteri with Camponotus punctaticeps from Java, which has been listed as either a member of the subgenus Myrmamblys (Forel 1914, Emery 1925) or Colobopsis (McArthur 2012) by previous authors. According to the same publication (Forel 1915), the species lives in Sinabang in sympatry (but not necessarily at the same localities) with “Camponotus (Colobopsis) pilosus Smith”. This taxon is a member of the Colobopsis cylindrica group and is presently under investigation.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: Indonesia (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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

Castes

Worker

Minor

Images from AntWeb

Camponotus kutteri casent0910521 h 1 high.jpgCamponotus kutteri casent0910521 p 1 high.jpgCamponotus kutteri casent0910521 d 1 high.jpgCamponotus kutteri casent0910521 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Camponotus kutteriWorker. Specimen code casent0910521. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Camponotus kutteri syntype minor F68.jpgCamponotus kutteri syntype minor F70.jpg
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Nomenclature

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

  • kutteri. Camponotus (Myrmamblys) kutteri Forel, 1915a: 40 (s.w.q.m.) INDONESIA (Sumatra).
    • Type-material: syntype major and minor workers, syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated).
    • Type-locality: Indonesia: Sumatra, Simalur I. (= Simeulue I.), Sinabang, 1913 (E. Jacobson).
    • Type-depository: MHNG.
    • Status as species: Emery, 1925b: 138; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 232; Bolton, 1995b: 107; McArthur, 2012: 44; Zettel, Balàka, et al. 2018: 170 (redescription).
    • Distribution: Indonesia (Sumatra).

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

Description

Worker

Zettel et al. (2018) - syntype (from illustration): Ward’s Indices: ASM/HWex 0.31, 0.30; ASM/CLW 0.65, 0.62; CLW/CLL 1.54, 1.61.

Minor Structures: Head roundish, uniformly reticulated and matt dorsally and laterally. Lateral outline of eye and head contiguous. Vertex moderately raised, not domed. Frons with shiny midline. Clypeus with a slightly concave basal margin, with distal margin roundly protruded. Mandible scarcely punctured. Mesosoma slender and low, entirely reticulated; dorsal outline convex, with a shallow impression between mesonotum and propodeum; on pronotum and propodeum moderately convex. Petiolar node with obliquely truncated apex. Gaster tergites with reticulation; translucent margins on tergites 1–4 distinct.

Pilosity: Long white standing setae abundant all over dorsum, longest on mesonotum, propodeum, gaster tergites 1 and 4. Subdecumbent pubescence short, thin, whitish, extremely sparse and inconspicuous on head, dense on mesosoma, petiole, and gaster. Colour: Dark brown to black, except scape brown and mandibles orange.

Major Structures: Head squared, longer than wide, sides slightly converging anteriorly. Eyes small, laterally not reaching sides of head. Ocellar scars absent. Frontal carinae prominent, curved. Dorsal surface of head with strong, widely spaced punctures; interspaces with reduced, hardly visible microsculpture, except area between high frontal carinae and eye clearly reticulated. Clypeus moderately narrow; basal margin with strong concavity in middle; anterior margin moderately protruded, not surpassing genae; disk with a few transverse wrinkles near base. Mandibles with widely spaced punctures. – Mesosoma similar to minor regarding microsculpture and dorsal outline, but slightly higher and somewhat broader at pronotum. Node of petiole similar to minor, but apex less acute in lateral view. Gaster similar as in minor.

Pilosity: Similar to minor, except white setae on head, pronotum, and mesonotum comparatively shorter; short pubescence absent from head.

Colour: Black, similar to minor, except head and anterior part of pronotum medium brown; mandibles reddish brown, except black teeth.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Chapman, J. W., and Capco, S. R. 1951. Check list of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Asia. Monogr. Inst. Sci. Technol. Manila 1: 1-327
  • Forel A. 1915. Fauna Simalurensis. Hymenoptera Aculeata, Fam. Formicidae. Tijdschr. Entomol. 58: 22-43.
  • Zettel H., P. Balaka, S. Yamane, A. Laciny, L. Lim, and I. S. Druzhinina. 2018. New mimetic ants from Southeast Asia – the Camponotus (Myrmamblys) inquilinus group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Camponotini). Zeitschrift der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Osterreichischer Entomologen 70: 125-174.