Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel, 1881

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Mohamed, Amr A., Fisher, Brian L. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2020, A Preliminary Synopsis of the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Qatar with Remarks on the Zoogeography, Annales Zoologici 70 (4), pp. 533-560 : 545-546

Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel, 1881

( Fig. 14 A–C)

Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel, 1881: 5 (w.) Virgin Is. Neotropic.

Diagnosis. Worker. Bicolored species with head and mesosoma yellow to brown, or orange-brown; terminal funicular segments always darker than rest of antennae; gaster black-brown to black, strongly contrasting head and mesosoma; antennal scapes of moderate length, when laid back from their insertions fail to reach posterior margin of head; eyes of moderate size with 8–10 ommatidia in longest row; pronotal corners rounded in dorsal view; metanotal groove sharply impressed; propodeal spines relatively short and stout; postpetiole in profile with a ventral bulge projecting anteriorly.

Material examined. Qatar, Al-Rayyan, 08.iii. 2005, 25°18’N, 51°25’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 3w ( KSMA) .

Geographic distribution. A successful cosmopolitan tramp species ( Bolton 1987, Wetterer 2012). The species was originally described from the Virgin Islands, and reported from most countries of the Arabian Peninsula, including Oman, Yemen ( Collingwood and Agosti 1996), KSA ( Collingwood 1985), UAE ( Collingwood et al. 1997), and the Socotra Archipelago ( Collingwood et al. 2004, Sharaf et al. 2017). Our material represents the first record from Qatar.

Ecological and biological notes. This species has a broad global distribution facilitated by human trade ( Seifert 2003, Wetterer 2012), and it is commonly encountered in heated buildings and greenhouses of the Afrotropical region ( Bolton 1987).

Figures

Figure 14. Cardiocondyla emeryi, worker, A, body in profile B, body in dorsal view C, head in full-face view, CASENT0264222 (Will Ericson), www.AntWeb.org.