Camponotus festinatus

Camponotus festinatus
	Camponotus festinatus worker
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Genus:	Camponotus
Species:	C. festinatus
Binomial name
	Camponotus festinatus; (Buckley, 1866)
Synonyms
	Formica festinata Buckley, 1866

Camponotus festinatus is a species of carpenter ant that is typically found in the Southwestern United States and northern reaches of Mexico.[1] It is most commonly found around Tucson, Arizona. It lives in the semi-dead branches of palo verde trees found in the area. Camponotus festinatus is an exclusively liquid feeder. These ants can only feed on sap from trees or the juices of a deceased animal. Like most ants, their diet is primarily sugar with some protein. Camponotus festinatus ants are not known to be aggressive except towards other ants. Soldiers will prefer to run from humans rather than be aggressive. In principle, these ants can bite with their mandibles. However, as carpenter ants like these are formicines, they have no functional sting. Instead of stinging, they can use an acidopore to spray formic acid.[2]

C. festinatus queens are 'claustral foundresses', in that they sequester themselves in a chamber to begin a new colony and raise the first set of worker ants without seeking out or obtaining additional food.[3]

References

Janda, Milan; Rosas-Mejía, Madai; Corcuera, Pablo; Aguilar-Méndez, Mario Josué; Vásquez-Bolaños, Miguel; Tafoya-Alvarado, Yuliza (2019), Álvarez, Fernando; Ojeda, Margarita (eds.), "Diversity and Community Structure of Ants in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Coahuila, Mexico", Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 129–145, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11262-2_10, ISBN 978-3-030-11262-2, S2CID 164682306, retrieved 2022-10-05
Eubanks, Micky D.; Lin, Constance; Tarone, Aaron M. (2019-03-01). "The role of ants in vertebrate carrion decomposition". Food Webs. 18: e00109. doi:10.1016/j.fooweb.2018.e00109. ISSN 2352-2496. S2CID 91779356.
Martinez, Teresa; Wheeler, Diana E. (1994-08-01). "Storage proteins in adult ants (Camponotus festinatus): Roles in colony founding by queens and in larval rearing by workers". Journal of Insect Physiology. 40 (8): 723–729. doi:10.1016/0022-1910(94)90100-7. ISSN 0022-1910.

A Camponotus festinatus queen with workers

External links

Media related to Camponotus festinatus at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Janda, Milan; Rosas-Mejía, Madai; Corcuera, Pablo; Aguilar-Méndez, Mario Josué; Vásquez-Bolaños, Miguel; Tafoya-Alvarado, Yuliza (2019), Álvarez, Fernando; Ojeda, Margarita (eds.), "Diversity and Community Structure of Ants in the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Coahuila, Mexico", Animal Diversity and Biogeography of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 129–145, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11262-2_10, ISBN 978-3-030-11262-2, S2CID 164682306, retrieved 2022-10-05

[2] Eubanks, Micky D.; Lin, Constance; Tarone, Aaron M. (2019-03-01). "The role of ants in vertebrate carrion decomposition". Food Webs. 18: e00109. doi:10.1016/j.fooweb.2018.e00109. ISSN 2352-2496. S2CID 91779356.

[3] Martinez, Teresa; Wheeler, Diana E. (1994-08-01). "Storage proteins in adult ants (Camponotus festinatus): Roles in colony founding by queens and in larval rearing by workers". Journal of Insect Physiology. 40 (8): 723–729. doi:10.1016/0022-1910(94)90100-7. ISSN 0022-1910.