Cardiocondyla wroughtonii (Forel, 1890)

Fig. 27

Emeryia wroughtonii Forel, 1890: cxi (ergatoid m) India. Indomalaya.

Diagnosis

Head, mesosoma, and appendages yellow to yellowish brown, gaster brown; small species with relatively broad head; scapes fail to reach posterior margin of head in full-face view; eyes with 9–11 ommatidia in longest row; mesosoma in profile with mesonotal dorsum abruptly sloped posteriorly and descending steeply to a deeply impressed metanotal groove; petiole node in dorsal view subglobular, slightly broader than long; pronotal corners rounded in dorsal view; propodeal spines narrow and well-developed (Fig. 27).

Material examined

INDIA • Poona; Wroughton leg.; feuilles d’ Eugenia L.; CASENT0908349; MHNG .

OMAN – Dhofar • 2 w; Ayn Hamran; 17.100° N, 54.284° E; alt. 106 m; 20 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA .

Ecological and biological notes

This species was found in leaf litter under a tree of Prosopis .

Geographic range

First described from India, Cardiocondyla wroughtonii has since been recorded from KSA, Yemen (Collingwood & Agosti 1996; Collingwood & van Harten 2001), Egypt (Sharaf 2006), and Israel (Kugler 1984). This species, which is similar to C. minutior, is a successful tramp species that has been widely introduced into East Africa (Bolton 1982), the Australian, the Nearctic, and the Oriental Regions (Seifert 2003). Our collection represents a new record for Oman.