Crematogaster melanogaster Emery

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Aldawood, Abdulrahman S. & Garcia, Francisco Hita, 2019, Review of the Arabian Crematogaster Lund (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), synoptic list, distribution, and description of two new species from Oman and Saudi Arabia, ZooKeys 898, pp. 27-81 : 27

Crematogaster melanogaster Emery Figure 26 A–C

Taxonomic history.

Crematogaster arborea subsp. melanogaster Emery, 1895: 29 (w., q.) South Africa.

Combination in Crematogaster ( Crematogaster) : Wheeler 1922: 840; in Crematogaster (Acrocoelia) : Emery 1922: 147; in Crematogaster ( Crematogaster) : Bolton 1995: 166.

Status as species: Wheeler 1922: 840.

Current subspecies: C. melanogaster homonyma Emery.

Geographic range.

This species was described from South Africa for the Afrotropical region and it seems to be restricted to the southern African countries of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa ( Guénard et al. 2017; Janicki et al. 2017). The only records for the Arabian Peninsula are from Oman ( Collingwood and Agosti 1996; Borowiec 2014; Sharaf et al. 2018) ( Fig. 16 ).

Remarks.

The species record from Oman appears doubtful based on the strange distribution pattern noted above. However, since we were unable to examine any material of this species, we consider it prudent to list it as an Arabian species for the moment.

Figures

Figure 16. Distribution map of C. flaviventris and C. melanogaster.

Figure 26. C. melanogaster A body in profile B body in dorsal view C head in full-face view, CASENT 0904511 (Will Ericson), www. AntWeb. org.