Taxonomy of the Myrmicine ant genus Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in the Arabian Peninsula

  • Mostafa R. Sharaf Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, P.O. Box 2460
  • Shahid A. Akbar Plant Protection Division, Department of Entomology, Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
  • Hathal M. Al Dhafer Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, P.O. Box 2460
  • Ali El- Gharbawy Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Al Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo
  • Abdulrahman S. Aldawood Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, P.O. Box 2460
Keywords: Ants, Temnothorax, revision, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Afrotropical region

Abstract

The Arabian Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 fauna is revised for the first time. Three species are recognized from the region: Temnothorax arabicus Sharaf & Akbar sp. nov., T. liviae (Agosti & Collingwood, 2011) comb. nov. and T. megalops (Hamann & Klemm, 1967). Leptothorax saudiae Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 was placed in Temnothorax by Bolton (2003), but actually belongs to Tetramorium Mayr, 1855 and is herewithin recombined to Tetramorium saudiae (Collingwood & Agosti, 1996) comb. nov. Automontage images and comparative diagnoses of workers as well as notes on habitats and distribution of treated species are provided. A revised key to the Arabian species based on the worker caste is also presented.

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Published
2017-02-16
How to Cite
Sharaf, M. R., Akbar, S. A., Dhafer, H. M. A., Gharbawy, A. E.-., & Aldawood, A. S. (2017). Taxonomy of the Myrmicine ant genus Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in the Arabian Peninsula. European Journal of Taxonomy, (280). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2017.280