Plagiolepis barbara Santschi, 1911

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Wetterer, James K., Mohamed, Amr A. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2022, Faunal composition, diversity, and distribution of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Dhofar Governorate, Oman, with updated list of the Omani species and remarks on zoogeography, European Journal of Taxonomy 838 (1), pp. 1-106 : 39

Plagiolepis barbara Santschi, 1911

Fig. 24

Plagiolepis pygmaea var. barbara Santschi, 1911: 286 (w, m) Tunisia. Palearctic.

Diagnosis

Yellow-brown, gaster yellowish, paler than rest of body, legs and antennae yellow, propodeal dorsum red-brown. Eyes, in full-face view, fail to break head sides; second funicular segment as long as or little longer than broad; third funicular segment little longer than broad; second and third funicular segments nearly sub equal; fourth funicular segment distinctly longer than broad, and little longer than third; eyes large with eleven ommatidia in longest row; metanotal groove feebly impressed; dorsum of head with abundant but widely spaced pubescence.

Material examined

This species was not collected during the present study.

Ecological and biological notes

It has been found nesting directly in loose, dry soil under rocks in the southwestern Mountains of KSA. In the Canary Islands, Espadaler (2007) noted the same type of nesting habits for the species, but some nests were reported in wood debris.

Geographic range

It was described first from Morocco, with other records from Tunisia and Algeria ( Santschi 1920). The species has been recorded from the Arabian Peninsula from Oman, KSA, and Yemen ( Collingwood & Agosti 1996). It is known also from several countries of the Palearctic Region, including the Canary Islands ( Espadaler 2007), and Egypt ( Sharaf 2006). This species was collected in Dhofar by Collingwood & Agosti (1996).

Figures

Fig. 24. Plagiolepis barbara Santschi, 1911, worker (CASENT0912424,AntWeb.org (Zach Lieberman)). A. Body in profile. B. Head in full-face view. C. Distribution map.