Blochmannia
Guides
Camponotini
Camponotine Ants
Camponotini is a species-rich tribe of ants within the subfamily Formicinae, comprising 11 extant and 2 extinct genera with over 2,500 species. The tribe includes the well-known genus Camponotus (carpenter ants), along with Colobopsis, Polyrhachis, and several smaller genera. Members of this tribe are distinguished by their obligate association with the bacterial endosymbiont Blochmannia, which provides nutritional benefits. The tribe originated in the Eocene approximately 38.4 million years ago, likely in Australasia or the Indomalayan region.
Camponotus fragilis
Camponotus fragilis is a carpenter ant species endemic to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. First described by Theodore Pergande in 1893, it was synonymized and later revived by Roy Snelling in 2006. The species has been studied for its gut bacterial communities, which show compartmentalization across different gut sections and variation between laboratory-raised and field-collected colonies.