Monomorium abeillei André, 1881

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Mohamed, Amr A., Fisher, Brian L. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2020, A Preliminary Synopsis of the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Qatar with Remarks on the Zoogeography, Annales Zoologici 70 (4), pp. 533-560 : 547

Monomorium abeillei André, 1881

( Fig. 16 A–C)

Monomorium abeillei André, 1881b: 531 (footnote) (w.) Palestine. Palearctic.

Diagnosis. Worker. Color evenly brown-black to black with pale funiculi, tarsi, and mandibles; anterior margin of clypeus slightly concave; eyes moderately large, with 9–10 ommatidia in the longest row; posterior margin when seen in full-face view weakly emarginate with rounded corners; mesosoma in profile with promesonotal dorsum meeting the flat propodeum at an oblique angle; propodeum with a characteristic, well-defined, longitudinal, V-shaped furrow bordered by a distinct raised edge at each side; petiole in profile is a high, rounded triangle; pronotum and petiole each have one pair of hairs, postpetiole with two pairs; few scattered hairs on first gastral tergite; head, pronotum, and nodes superficially reticulate; gaster shining with superficial sculpture.

Material examined. Qatar, Al Dhakira Park, 07.iii, 2005, 25°43’N, 51°32’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 8w; Al-Dohuil , 18-8.iii.2005, 25°22’N, 51°29’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 3w; Al-Rayyan, 08.iii.2005, 25°18’N, 51°25’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 4 w ( KSMA) .

Geographic distribution. A Palearctic species originally described from Palestine and is known from Levant: Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria ( Borowiec and Salata 2020); Arabian Peninsula: KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen ( Collingwood 1985, Collingwood and Agosti 1996), UAE ( Tigar and Collingwood 1993; Collingwood et al. 2011); and east to Iran and Afghanistan. This species is recorded for the first time from Qatar.

Ecological and biological notes. The habitat preference of M. abeillei includes sandy desert, coastal areas, and high ground in the Asir mountains above 2200 m.a.s.l. ( Collingwood 1985).

Figures

Figure 16. Monomorium abeillei, worker, A, body in profile B, body in dorsal view C, head in full-face view, CASENT0914317 (Zach Lieberman), www.AntWeb.org.