Three ways to distinguish species: using behavioural, ecological, and molecular data to tell apart two closely related ants,Camponotus renggeriandCamponotus rufipes(Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The closely related Camponotus renggeri and Camponotus rufipes (subgenus Myrmothrix) often live in sympatry in the Brazilian ‘cerrado’ savannah, and are distinguished by nuances in their blackish body colour and by the colour of the legs. Variation in morphological characters, however, makes species separation difficult and it has been suggested that the two species should be merged into one. As appropriate species identification is essential...