Carebara castanea

Carebara castanea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Carebara
Species:	C. castanea
Binomial name
Carebara castanea Smith, F., 1858 Specimen Labels
Subspecies
Carebara castanea augustata Santschi, 1920

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Laos, Thailand.
Palaearctic Region: China (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Biology

Nests are complex underground constructions. Colonies consist of tens of thousands of workers, with a single queen.

Segment of a Carebara castanea nest from northern Thailand, showing two levels of chambers with supporting pillars. Photo by Christian Peeters

Castes

Workers are monomorphic in size. Soldiers are absent in this species.

Striking dimorphism in body size between queen and workers in Carebara castanea. From Lampang province, northern Thailand. Photo by Christian Peeters

• The following images are provided by AntWeb
• 

Nomenclature

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

• castanea. Carebara castanea Smith, F. 1858b: 178 (q.) CHINA (Hong Kong).
  • Status as species: Mayr, 1862: 755; Mayr, 1863: 402; Roger, 1863b: 32; Mayr, 1865: 108; Smith, F. 1871a: 334; Dalla Torre, 1893: 74; Santschi, 1920h: 162; Emery, 1924d: 220; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 155; Ettershank, 1966: 127; Bolton, 1995b: 133; Jaitrong & Nabhitabhata, 2005: 16; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 41; Jaitrong, Guénard, et al. 2016: 34.
  • Current subspecies: nominal plus augustata.

References

• Smith, F. 1858a. Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae. London: British Museum, 216 pp. (page 178, queen described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
• Jaitrong W., B. Guenard, E. P. Economo, N. Buddhakala, and S. Yamane. 2016. A checklist of known ant species of Laos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Asian Myrmecology 8: 1-32. DOI: 10.20362/am.008019
• Kubota M. 1994. Carebara queens, as friend dish in nothern Thailand. Ari 17: 18.
• Ogata K. 2005. Asian ant inventory and international networks. Report on Insect inventory Project in Tropic Asia TAIIV: 145-170.
• Sakchoowong W., W. Jaitrong, and K. Ogata. 2009. Comparison of ground-ant diversity between natural forests and disturbed forests along a natural gas pipeline transect in Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi province. Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci) 43: 64-73.
• Santschi F. 1920. Fourmis d'Indo-Chine. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 60: 158-176.
• Santschi F. 1924. Fourmis d'Indochine. Opuscules de l'Institut Scientifique de l'Indochine 3: 95-117
• Xu Z. 1999. Systematic studies on the ant genera of Carebara, Rhopalomastix and Kartidris in China (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Acta Biologica Plateau Sinica 14: 129-136