Cataglyphis fisheri Sharaf & Aldawood

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Collingwood, Cedric A. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2015, Notes on the ant genus Cataglyphis Foerster, 1850 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Arabian Peninsula with description of a new species and a key to species of the C. pallida-group, ZooKeys 545, pp. 101-117 : 103

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Formicidae

Cataglyphis fisheri Sharaf & Aldawood sp. n. Figures 1, 2, 3

Material examined.

United Arab Emirates, Baynounah, "sandy desert" (Sheiekh Zayed city), 23°38'40"N 53°37'12"E, 8.iii.1995, (C. A. Collingwood leg.), next to Zygophyllum plants, King Saud Museum of Arthropods (KSMA), College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Paratypes.

1 worker, United Arab Emirates, Rhatam, 11.xi.1993, (C. A. Collingwood leg.), (KSMA); 3 workers, Oman desert, 30.ii.1997, (M. D. Gallagher leg.), (code 8907) (WMLC); 1 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.40318°N, 46.59209°E, 596m, 13.iv.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA); 4 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.41559°N, 46.58806°E, 602m, 18.x.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA); 7 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.4279°N, 46.57547°E, 612m, 18.x.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA); 2 worker, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Province, Rawdhat She’al, 22.42496°N, 46.57556°E, 606m, 18.x.2015, PT (Aldhafer et al. leg.) (KSMA).

Holotype worker.

TL 5.00, F1 0.26, F2 0.15, HL 1.24, HW 1.16, MH 0.20, PH 0.22, SL 1.27, ML 1.80, OS 0.07, OD 0.08, EL 0.28, PW 1.00, PTH 0.50, CI 94, EI 24, FI 173, PI 110, SI 109.

Paratype.

TL 3.12-5.75, F1 0.17-0.30, F2 0.10-0.17, HL 0.87-1.32, HW 0.72-1.17, MH 0.10-0.17, PH 0.15-0.25, SL 0.97-1.25, ML 1.37-2.00, OS 0.07, OD 0.07-0.08, EL 0.20-0.35, PW 0.55-0.95, PTH 0.22-0.42, CI 77-90, EI 25-34, FI 113-220, PI 125-208, SI 90-144 (11 measured).

Worker.

Head. Head distinctly longer than broad (CI 83-94), with straight posterior and lateral margins; posterior ocelli located at the level of posterior margin of eyes; scapes when laid back from their insertions surpass posterior margin of head by less than ¼ of its length. Mesosoma. Propodeal dorsum in profile distinctly low, nearly at same level as petiolar node. Petiole. Petiole an upright or slightly inclined scale, with the anterior face meeting the posterior face with a narrowly rounded margin angle. Pilosity. Third maxillary palp with erect hairs not longer than 1.5 × maximum diameter of third segment; area behind the lateral clypeal margins with dense white pubescence, anterior clypeal margin with abundant long, curved, hairs; mesosomal dorsum with a few scattered hairs, two pairs each on the mesonotum and propodeum, petiole bare, gaster bare except for a few short hairs on apex, posterior margin of head with single pair of erect hairs. Sculpture. Cephalic dorsum faintly sculptured; median cephalic surface in front of ocelli feebly but distinctly longitudinally striated, striae curving outward to lateral margins in front of eyes; mandibles faintly but distinctly longitudinally striated, mesosoma and petiole faintly sculptured, general appearance dull. Colour. Uniform yellow, mandibular teeth brown.

Etymology.

This species is named in honor of Dr. Brian Fisher, Department of Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Affinities.

Cataglyphis fisheri is a member of the Cataglyphis pallida -group as defined by Agosti (1990), which is recorded here for the first time from the Arabian Peninsula. Although Collingwood and Agosti (1996) reported 265 species or morhospecies from the entire Arabian Peninsula, a large number of ant specimens remained unidentified. Cataglyphis fisheri was among those specimens. The workers cannot be identified from the key to Arabian species compiled by Collingwood and Agosti (1996) because material was not included in the study. However, Cataglyphis fisheri is similar to the Palearctic species Cataglyphis pallida Mayr, 1877 described from Kazakhstan. A differential diagnosis of the two species is summarized in Table 1.

In the key to Arabian species (Collingwood and Agosti 1996), Cataglyphis fisheri will run to couplet 12 that also includes the much larger Cataglyphis sabulosa Kugler, 1981. Cataglyphis fisheri sp. n. can be readily separated by the upright or slightly inclined petiole with a dorsal rounded node, the lower propodeal profile and the absence of body pubescence whereas Cataglyphis sabulosa has a squaminode petiole with a convex anterior surface and straight posteriorly, a higher propodeal profile and the body covered with white silvery pubescence. The drawing of Cataglyphis sabulosa in Collingwood (1985) is incorrect.