Hypoponera ragusai (Emery, 1894)

Fig. 54

Ponera ragusai Emery, 1894: 28 (w) Italy (Sicily). Palearctic.

Diagnosis

Color yellow to light brown-yellow; scapes in full-face view fail to reach posterior margin of head; eyes minute of 1–3 facets, situated near to posterior margin of clypeus; petiole thick, 1.5 times as broad as long; subpetiolar process subtriangular.

Material examined

OMAN – Dhofar • 15 w, 1 m; Dhalkout; 16.707° N, 53.251° E; alt. 34 m; 19 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 w; same collection data as for preceding; CASENT0922863; CASC • 6 w; Ayn Hamran; 17.086° N, 54.280° E; alt. 56 m; 22 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 w; Ayn Razat; 17.124° N, 54.238° E; alt. 98 m; 20 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 w; Dhalkout; 16.693° N, 53.156° E; alt. 628 m; 18 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA .

Ecological and biological notes

Workers were collected in a shaded area with dense native grasses and shrubs, whereas several specimens were found nesting in moist soil under stones. A nest series was found also in leaf litter under a tree of Ziziphus sp.

Geographic range

Although originally described from Italy, H. ragusai has spread worldwide into all zoogeographical regions (Bolton & Fisher 2011; Bharti et al. 2015). In the Arabian Peninsula, H. ragusai has been collected from KSA (Collingwood 1985), and UAE (Collingwood et al. 2011). The above specimens represent the first species record for Oman.