Lepisiota spinisquama ( Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929 )

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Fisher, Brian L., Collingwood, Cedric A. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2017, Ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen): zoogeography, distribution and description of a new species, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 51 (5 - 6), pp. 317-378 : 328

Lepisiota spinisquama ( Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929)

( Figure 6 (a–c))

Acantholepis frauenfeldi subsp. spinisquama Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929: 483 , fig. 3 (w.) Kazakhstan. Palaearctic.

Diagnosis

Worker. Antennal scapes when laid back from their insertions surpassing posterior margin of head by more than half of its length; propodeal spines short, acute and curved; petiole bituberculate; pronotum with a single pair of long hairs; body smooth and shining black, antennae, tibiae and tarsi yellowish.

Material examined

Yemen, Socotra Island, Qalansyia, 25 April 2014, 26 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.68401°N, 53.49052° E (3 w, KSMA); Yemen, Socotra Island, Dixam, 24 April 2014, 656 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.49320° N, 53.99145°E (3 w, KSMA); Yemen, Socotra Island, Qoaher (himihil RD), 23 April 2014, 124 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.58561°N, 54.27643°E (10 w, KSMA); Yemen, Socotra Island, Himihil Protectorate, 23 April 2014, 330 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.58204°N, 54.29057°E (16 w KSMA); Yemen, Socotra Island, Haydibo, Erheno, 19 April 2014, 33 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.65023°N, 54.04016°E (15 w, KSMA); Yemen, Socotra Island, W. Ayhift, 20 April 2014, 38 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.61906°N, 53.94005°E (12 w, KSMA); Yemen, Socotra Island, Himihil Protectorate, 23 April 2014, 372 m, (M. R. Sharaf leg.), 12.57615°N, 54.30651°E (12 w, KSMA, 1 w, CASC) .

Geographic range

This species has a wide distribution in central Asia but on the Arabian Peninsula it has been recorded only in Oman and Socotra ( Collingwood 1985; Collingwood and Agosti 1996; Collingwood et al. 2004).

Ecological and biological notes

Lepisiota spinisquama was collected from dry soil under a date palm tree by sifting. A colony was found nesting under a stone in Dixam Plateau. A nest was collected from under a dead palm tree where the soil had a high degree of humidity and was rich in organic material. Another colony was found under a stone where exoskeletons of minor workers of a yellow Camponotus sp. were present. Workers were observed foraging on the trunk of Boswellia carteri Flueck. (Burseraceae) where many worker of Trichomyrmex mayri (Forel) were also found at the trunk base and the soil was dry. Several mealybugs ( Hemiptera : Pseudococcidae ) were observed under the bark of the tree. The species was also found nesting under a stone with several dead tenebrionid beetles and a species of the family Lygaeidae (Hemiptera) . Several workers of L. spinisquama were foraging on ground where soil was sandy and dry. Several individuals were collected from a dry leaf litter by sifting. A nest was located in a relatively moist, compact clay soil under a stone. Previous observations indicate that this species apparently prefers dry habitats.

Figures

Figure 6. Lepisiota spinisquama. (a) Body in profile. (b) Head in full-face view, CASENT0746630, AntWeb.org, (Zach Lieberman). (c) Distribution map, blue circles from recent records, red circles from Collingwood et al. (2004).