Notes on the ant genus Cataglyphis Foerster, 1850 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Arabian Peninsula with description of a new species and a key to species of the C. pallida-group.

Cataglyphis fisheri sp. n. is described and illustrated from the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia based on the worker caste. It belongs to the Cataglyphis pallida-group which is recorded for the first time from the Arabian Peninsula. Cataglyphis fisheri sp. n. is similar to Cataglyphis pallida Mayr, 1877 from Kazakhstan. Differential diagnosis between these two species is given and a key to the species of the Cataglyphis pallida-group is presented. Cataglyphis laylae Collingwood, 2011 is treated as a junior synonym of Cataglyphis saharae Santschi, 1929. Cataglyphis flavobrunnea Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 is redescribed and a lectotype for this species is designated.

Introduction

The ant genus Foerster, 1850 currently includes 108 valid species and subspecies (http://www.antwiki.org/, accessed 15 August 2015) distributed in the desert areas of the Palearctic Region ranging from South Palearctic to Ghana, East to North China and India (Brown 2000). Members of the genus are among the commonest ants of the desert ecosystems of the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia, where they build their crater nests directly in the ground (Brown 2000, Sharaf and Aldawood, unpublished data) and feed on dead insects (Lenoir et al. 2010). Their role in the desert ecosystem is important as they have been reported pollinating flowering plants (Herrera et al. 1984) and contributing to the dispersal of seeds (Hulme 1997; Boulay et al. 2007).

The worldwide revision of the genus by Santschi (1929) is out of date, but a comprehensive reclassification of the genus and its species groups was presented by Agosti in 1990. Many regional faunal treatments are available: Israel (Emery 1925), Iraq (Pisarski 1965), former European U.S.S.R. (Arnol’di and Dlussky 1978), Iberian Peninsula (Collingwood 1978), (Collingwood 1985), Turkmenistan (Dlussky, Soyunov and Zabelin 1992), Bulgaria (Atanasov and Dlussky 1992), Armenia (Arakelian 1994), Central Europe (Seifert 1996), Portugal (Collingwood and Prince 1998), Asia species key (Radchenko 1998), Northwest China (Chang and He 2002), Egypt (Sharaf 2006), North and Central Europe species key (Seifert 2007) and Morocco (Cagniant 2009). Many species are polymorphic, dimorphic or have variation in worker size. This makes it necessary to be cautious when making identifications and, even more, so when treating a single worker as representing a new species.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Arabian species of were first treated by Collingwood (1985), who recorded 18 species from the KSA describing two new species and from the Asir Mountains of southwestern KSA. Subsequently, Collingwood and Agosti (1996) reviewed the genus for the entire Arabian Peninsula providing a key to species. The 26 recorded species included six new species, , , , , and . A myrmecofaunal list of the (Collingwood et al. 2011) reported 20 species and described an additional new species, Collingwood for the Peninsula.

United Arab Emirates

In the present paper a new species, , is described from the UAE based on the worker caste. A new lectotype designation for Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 is presented with redescription of the worker caste. Collingwood, 2011 is shown to be a junior synonym of Santschi, 1929.

Materials and methods

Measurements and indices

All measurements are in millimeters and follow standard measurements of Agosti (1990).

Measurements

Maximum diameter of eye.

Eye length

(F1).

Length of first funicular segment

(F2).

Length of second funicular segment

Length of head proper, excluding mandibles, measured from mid-point of anterior clypeal margin to mid-point of posterior head margin, in full-face view.

Head length

Maximum width of head in full-face view, measured below eyes.

Head width

Maximum distance from line spanned between anteriormost and posteriormost part of mesosoma and lowest part of metanotum, measured at a right angle to this line.

Metanotum height

Diagonal length of mesosoma in profile from point at which pronotum meets the cervical shield to posterior base of metapleuron.

Mesosomal length

Diameter of the ocelli.

Median ocellus size

Distance between the two basal ocellus.

Ocelli distance

Maximum distance from a line spanned between anteriormost and posteriormost part of mesosoma and most raised part of propodeum, measured at a right angle to this line.

Propodeum height

Maximum width of pronotum measured in dorsal view.

Pronotal width

Maximum height of petiolar measured in lateral view from highest (median) point of node to ventral outline.

Petiole height

Maximum straight line length of antennal scape excluding basal constriction or neck to condylar bulb.

Scape length

Outstretched body length from mandibular apex to gastral apex.

Total length

Indices

HW × 100/HL.

Cephalic index

EL × 100/HW.

Eye index

Length of first funicular segment × 100/Length of second funicular segment.

Funicular index

PH × 100/MH.

Propodeum index

SL × 100/HW.

Scape index

Abbreviations of depositories

KSMA.

King Saud University Museum of Arthropods, King Saud University, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, Plant Protection department, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

MHNG.

Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de la Ville de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

NHMB.

Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Basel, Switzerland

WMLC.

World Museum Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

In the original description of Collingwood and Agosti fixed the holotype from Oman and listed nine paratype specimens from Oman, The KSA, The United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Extensive searches in WMLC and NHMB did not succeed in finding the holotype specimen but nine specimens matching the paratypes data from the KSA were located. As recommended by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature, we designate a lecotype in this study to unequivocally ascertain the identity of the species

Results and discussion

Sharaf & Aldawood sp. n.

http://zoobank.org/9C54C443-0729-42AE-9B3A-E7CA294879E9

Figures 1 , 2 , 3

Figures 1.

Body in profile of sp. n. (Holotype worker), CASENT0906454. Photographer: Cerise Chen, www.AntWeb.org

Figures 2.

Body in dorsal view of sp. n. (Holotype worker), CASENT0906454. Photographer: Cerise Chen, www.AntWeb.org

Figures 3.

Head in full-face view of sp. n. (Holotype worker), CASENT0906454. Photographer: Cerise Chen, www.AntWeb.org

Material examined.

United Arab Emirates, Baynounah, “sandy desert” (Sheiekh Zayed city), 23°38'40"N 53°37'12"E, 8.iii.1995, (C. A. Collingwood leg.), next to plants, King Saud Museum of Arthropods (KSMA), College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Paratypes.

1 worker, United Arab Emirates, Rhatam, 11.xi.1993, (C. A. Collingwood leg.), (KSMA); 3 workers, Oman desert, 30.ii.1997, (M. D. Gallagher leg.), (code 8907) (WMLC); 1 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.40318°N, 46.59209°E, 596m, 13.iv.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA); 4 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.41559°N, 46.58806°E, 602m, 18.x.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA); 7 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.4279°N, 46.57547°E, 612m, 18.x.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA); 2 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.42496°N, 46.57556°E, 606m, 18.x.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA).

Holotype worker.

TL 5.00, F1 0.26, F2 0.15, HL 1.24, HW 1.16, MH 0.20, PH 0.22, SL 1.27, ML 1.80, OS 0.07, OD 0.08, EL 0.28, PW 1.00, PTH 0.50, CI 94, EI 24, FI 173, PI 110, SI 109.

Paratype.

TL 3.12–5.75, F1 0.17–0.30, F2 0.10–0.17, HL 0.87–1.32, HW 0.72–1.17, MH 0.10–0.17, PH 0.15–0.25, SL 0.97–1.25, ML 1.37–2.00, OS 0.07, OD 0.07-0.08, EL 0.20–0.35, PW 0.55–0.95, PTH 0.22–0.42, CI 77–90, EI 25–34, FI 113–220, PI 125–208, SI 90–144 (11 measured).

Worker.

Head. Head distinctly longer than broad (CI 83–94), with straight posterior and lateral margins; posterior ocelli located at the level of posterior margin of eyes; scapes when laid back from their insertions surpass posterior margin of head by less than ¼ of its length. Mesosoma. Propodeal dorsum in profile distinctly low, nearly at same level as petiolar node. Petiole. Petiole an upright or slightly inclined scale, with the anterior face meeting the posterior face with a narrowly rounded margin angle. Pilosity. Third maxillary palp with erect hairs not longer than 1.5× maximum diameter of third segment; area behind the lateral clypeal margins with dense white pubescence, anterior clypeal margin with abundant long, curved, hairs; mesosomal dorsum with a few scattered hairs, two pairs each on the mesonotum and propodeum, petiole bare, gaster bare except for a few short hairs on apex, posterior margin of head with single pair of erect hairs. Sculpture. Cephalic dorsum faintly sculptured; median cephalic surface in front of ocelli feebly but distinctly longitudinally striated, striae curving outward to lateral margins in front of eyes; mandibles faintly but distinctly longitudinally striated, mesosoma and petiole faintly sculptured, general appearance dull. Colour. Uniform yellow, mandibular teeth brown.

Etymology.

This species is named in honor of Dr. Brian Fisher, Department of Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Affinities.

is a member of the -group as defined by Agosti (1990), which is recorded here for the first time from the Arabian Peninsula. Although Collingwood and Agosti (1996) reported 265 species or morhospecies from the entire Arabian Peninsula, a large number of ant specimens remained unidentified. was among those specimens. The workers cannot be identified from the key to Arabian species compiled by Collingwood and Agosti (1996) because material was not included in the study. However, is similar to the Palearctic species Mayr, 1877 described from Kazakhstan. A differential diagnosis of the two species is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1.

Differential diagnosis between sp. n. and .

Cataglyphis fisheri sp. n.	Cataglyphis pallida
Posterior margin of head in full-face view straight and with five hairs.	Posterior margin of head in full-face view convex and without hairs.
Head and mesosoma with few pubescence.	Head and mesosoma with abundant pale pubescence.
Median cephalic surface in front of ocelli feebly but distinctly longitudinally striated, the striae curving outward to lateral margins in front of eyes.	Cephalic surface unsculptured.
Ocelli larger and set closer together	Ocelli smaller and set apart from each other.
OS 0.07, OD 0.07–0.08	OS 0.04, OD 0.10
Scape shorter, SL 0.97–1.25, SI 90–144	Scape longer, SL 1.30, SI 173

In the key to Arabian species (Collingwood and Agosti 1996), will run to couplet 12 that also includes the much larger Kugler, 1981. sp. n. can be readily separated by the upright or slightly inclined petiole with a dorsal rounded node, the lower propodeal profile and the absence of body pubescence whereas has a squaminode petiole with a convex anterior surface and straight posteriorly, a higher propodeal profile and the body covered with white silvery pubescence. The drawing of in Collingwood (1985) is incorrect.

body in profile, (Syntype worker), CASENT0911110, Photographer: Zach Lieberman.

sp. n. (Holotype worker), body in profile, CASENT0906454, Photographer: Cerise Chen.

, head in full-face view, CASENT0911112, Photographer: Zach Lieberman.

sp. n. (Holotype worker), body in profile, CASENT0906454, Photographer: Cerise Chen.

(Cotype), head in full-face view, CASENT0911112, Photographer: Alexandra Westrich.

Collingwood & Agosti, 1996

Figures 9 , 10 , 11 , 12

Figure 9.

Body in profile of (paralectotype worker), CASENT0249838.

Figure 10.

Body in dorsal view of (paralectotype worker), CASENT0249838.

Figure 11.

Head in full-face view of (paralectotype worker), CASENT0249838.

Figure 12.

Specimen label. Photographer: Ryan Perry, www.AntWeb.org

Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 378, fig. 41 (w.), Saudi Arabia: Jeddah, 7.v.l978 (W. Buttiker) (

Description.

Major head HW = HL (CI 100), minor the same with a shallowly convex posterior margin and nearly straight sides; first funicular segment 1.35× longer than second. Mesosoma. Metanotal spiracle distinctly raised. Petiole. Petiole in profile smoothly rounded but slightly assymetrical with the anterior more rounded and posterior near flat. Pilosity. Propodeal dorsum with two pairs of erect hairs; pronotum and mesonotum each with a single pair of erect hairs; posterior margin of head bare; gaster with sparse scattered and very short hairs; all body pubescence whitish or pale. Sculpture. Cephalic, mesosomal and petiolar surfaces finely punctate and dull, gaster smooth and shining. Colour. Head, mesosoma, petiole, coxae and femora brownish, antennae, tibiae and tarsi yellowish brown, gaster uniform dirty yellow.

Measurements.

TL 8.81; HL 1.92; HW 1.82 (major HL = HW = 2.31 Antweb scale); SL 2.21; FS1 0.38; FS2 0.28; PW 1.20; EL 0.53; Indices: CI 95 (Antweb image 100); EI 29; SI 121.

Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, 7.5.1978, (W. Buttiker Leg.), 9 workers, major available on http://www.antweb.org/specimen/casent0912239, and minor on http://www.antweb.org/specimen/casent0249839, (NHMB).

Remarks.

The original description of indicated differential diagnosis of this taxon with of the -group, diehlii-complex (Agosti, 1990). However, examination of the newly designated lectotype and the remaining PageBreakPageBreak11 paratypes indicates that the species are very different (casent0104615). has a uniformly brownish body and yellowish gaster whereas has yellowish brown body and dark brown gaster. The head and mesosoma of has dense white pubescence, whereas lacks pubescence on the head and mesosoma. Collingwood and Agosti (1996) mentioned that head is smooth and polished, but the head of the Lectotype is dull and is finely granulate.

Santschi, 1929

Figures 13 , 14 , 15 , 16

Figure 13.

Body in profile of (holotype worker), CASENT0912226.

Figure 14.

Body in dorsal view of (holotype worker), CASENT0912226.

Figure 15.

Head in full-face view of (holotype worker), CASENT0912226.

Figure 16.

Specimen label. Photographer: Zach Lieberman, www.AntWeb.org

Santschi, 1929: 48, fig. 3 (w.) (holotype worker), Algeria: Biskra, (

Collingwood, 2011: 458, pl. 96-103 (w.), United Arab Emirates: Al-Ain [

The brief original description did not adequately diagnose this taxon from other members in the -group. It was mentioned that is similar to (André, 1882) and (Dufour, 1862) and presented a single distinguishing character, the slender petiole. An examination of several paratypes showed that Collingwood, 2011 is a junior subjective synonym of Santschi.

United Arab Emirates, Al-Ain Zoo, 9.v.1995, 24°13'N, 55°46'E, 280 m (C. A. Collingwood leg.) (8 paratype workers) (KSMA), United Arab Emirates, Sweihan, iv.1995 (C. A. Collingwood leg.) (1 paratype worker), United Arab Emirates, Sweihan, iii.1995 (C. A. Collingwood leg.) (5 paratype workers), United Arab Emirates environmental desert, 3.iii.2005 (1), United Arab Emirates, Sharjah PageBreakPageBreakPageBreakdesert park, iii. 2006 (1), United Arab Emirates, Al Ain, v. 1995 (Pitfall trap) (1), United Arab Emirates, Sharjah desert, 15.i.2004(2)22 workers with no data, all the materials collected by C. A. Collingwood (WMLC).

1	Colour uniform brown or dark brown; mesosoma massively constructed; in profile propodeal dorsum high, meeting declivity in a distinct obtuse angle (Figure 4) Kazakhstan (type locality), Afghanistan, China, Iran, Turkmenistan	emeryi (Karavaiev, 1911)
–	Colour uniform pale yellow or orange yellow; mesosoma elegantly or smoothly constructed; in profile propodeal dorsum making a continuous curve into the declivity (Figure 5)	2
2	Ocelli smaller and set apart from each other (OS 0.04, OD 0.10) (Figure 6); posterior margin of head in full-face view convex and without hairs (Figure 6); cephalic surface unsculptured (Figure 6); body colour pale yellow (Figure 7). Kazakhstan (type locality), Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan	pallida Mayr, 1877
–	Ocelli larger and set closer together (OS 0.07, OD 0.07–0.08); posterior margin of head in full-face view straight and with a single pair of hairs (Figure 8); median cephalic surface in front of ocelli feebly but distinctly longitudinally striated, the striae curving outward to lateral margins in front of eyes (Figure 8); body colour orange yellow. Kingom of Saudi Arabia	fisheri sp. n.