Cardiocondyla minutior Forel, 1899

Fig. 26

Cardiocondyla nuda var. minutior Forel, 1899: 120 (w) Hawaii. Oceania.

Diagnosis

Head, mesosoma, petiole, and postpetiole dirty yellow to dark brown, gaster brown to black-brown; posterior margin of head straight or shallowly concave; eyes small, with distinct microsetae; anterior clypeal margin with a shallow central concavity; metanotal groove feebly impressed or absent; mesosomal outline in profile nearly straight or weakly convex; propodeal spines short and acute; petiolar node in dorsal view circular and as long as broad; postpetiole low, without anteroventral bulge (Fig. 26).

Material examined

OMAN – Dhofar • 7 w; Ayn Hamran; 17.086° N, 54.280° E; alt. 56 m; 22 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 11 w, 1 q; Ayn Dirbat; 17.106° N, 54.453° E; alt. 207 m; 17 Nov. 2017: SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 2 w; Ayn Hamran; 17.100° N, 54.284° E; alt. 106 m; 20 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 10 w; Ayn Razat; 17.130° N, 54.236° E; alt. 121 m; 20 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 w; Ayn Ashat; 16.998° N, 53.820° E; alt. 202 m; 21 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA .

Ecological and biological notes

Workers of this species were collected foraging on a small shrub; others were found in leaf litter under several trees including Ziziphus sp., Prosopis, Vachellia, and Ficus where the soil was rich in organic matter.

Geographic range

Cardiocondyla minutior is a successful tramp species (Seifert 2003), originally described from Hawaii, and recorded from the Socotra Archipelago by Sharaf et al. (2017c). Our specimens represent a new species record for Oman.