Brachyponera sennaarensis ( Mayr, 1862 )

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Wetterer, James K., Mohamed, AbdulAziz M. A., Georgiadis, Christos, Nasser, Mohamed G. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2024, Filling gaps in global myrmecology: ants of the Kingdom of Bahrain (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Journal of Natural History 58 (41 - 44), pp. 1705-1786 : 1770

Brachyponera sennaarensis ( Mayr, 1862)

( Figures 41 and 42 )

Ponera sennaarensis Mayr, 1862, p. 721 (w.) Sudan. Afrotropical.

Diagnosis

Worker. Large species (TL 5–6); black-brown to black, antennae, tibiae, and tarsi red; head in full-face view with convex sides and emarginated posterior margin; scapes, when laid back from their insertions, fail to reach posterior margin of head; eyes relatively large, situated well in front of midlength of head by about its length; metanotal groove deeply and broadly impressed; petiole a high and thick node with a straight anterior surface and a convex posterior surface; first and second gastral tergites separated by a distinct constriction; gaster ending with a powerful sting; middle tibia with one small simple and one large pectinate; mesosoma with several pairs of setae scattered over mesonotum and propodeal dorsum; body surfaces covered with fine and dense pubescence.

Material examined

Ten sites: 9; 10; 12; 13; 15; 19; 23; 27; 28; 29.

Geographic range. A species with an Afrotropical origin ( Collingwood 1985; Collingwood et al. 2004), that is successfully broadly distributed throughout all countries of the Arabian Peninsula ( Collingwood 1985; Collingwood and Agosti 1996; Collingwood et al. 2011; Wetterer 2013; Sharaf et al. 2017, 2018b, 2020a, 2023).

Ecology and biology. This species is well known for its powerful sting that frequently leads to anaphylactic shock and even death ( Dib et al. 1992, 1995; Al-Shahwan et al. 2006; Al-Anazi et al. 2009). Brachyponera sennaarensis varies in feeding habit from being a predaceous scavenger feeding on human food products and rubbish or dead insects ( Collingwood 1985; Collingwood et al. 2004; Al-Khalifa et al. 2010) to granivore, consuming plant seeds ( Lévieux and Diomande 1978; Lachaud and Déjean 1994; Nikbakhtzadeh et al. 2009), or insect predator ( Al-Khalifa et al. 2010; Wetterer 2013) attacking honeybee hives ( Whitcombe 1982). Nests are built directly in the soil with a remarkable preference for moist habitats ( Collingwood 1985; Collingwood and Agosti 1996; Tirgari and Paknia 2005), a phenomenon explaining the occurrence of the species in irrigated plantations and public gardens in the cities of KSA ( Sharaf et al. 2018b).

Figures

Figure 41. Brachyponera sennaarensis. Worker. (A) Body in profile. (B) Head in full-face view, ANTWEB1041930, AntWeb.org (Michele Esposito). (C) Distribution map.

Figure 42. Brachyponera sennaarensis. Queen. (A) Body in profile. (B) Body in dorsal view. (C) Head in full-face view, ANTWEB1041931, AntWeb.org (Michele Esposito).