Monomorium venustum ( Smith, 1858 )

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 : 548-549

Monomorium venustum ( Smith, 1858)

( Fig. 20 A–C)

Myrmica venusta Smith, 1858: 126 (w.) Syria. Palearctic.

Diagnosis. Worker. Bicolored species with head, mesosoma, petiole, and postpetiole red, gaster brown to black; metanotal groove well-developed, deep, and broad; petiolar node high and rounded in profile; mesosoma, petiole, and postpetiole superficially faintly sculptured; petiole and postpetiole each have one pair of dorsal hairs while the first gastral tergite is bare.

Monomorium venustum closely resembles M. niloticum Emery, 1881 from which it can be differentiated by a lack of mesosomal pilosity.

Material examined. Qatar, Rawdet Rashed , 12.iii.2005, 25°14.006’N, 51°12.286’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 9w, ( KSMA) .

Geographic distribution. This species was originally described from Syria and is known from Libya, east to Levant: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria ( Borowiec and Salata 2020); Arabian Peninsula: KSA, Kuwait, and Oman ( Collingwood 1985, Collingwood and Agosti 1996); Iran, and Turkmenistan ( Borowiec and Salata 2020). This material represents a new record for Qatar.

Figures

Figure 20. Monomorium venustum, syntype worker, A, body in profile B, body in dorsal view C, head in full-face view, CASENT0902221 (Will Ericson), www.AntWeb.org.