A preliminary list of the Ant Fauna in Northeastern Sahara of Algeria (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

We present here a preliminary list of ant fauna of some study sites in the northeastern Sahara of Algeria using two methodologies, quadrat and pitfall traps (Barber-pots) methods. This work was conducted in wild and agricultural ecosystems in the basin of Ouargla, El-Oued region and Djamaa region. We record a total of 26 species of 12 genera belonging to three subfamilies Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, and Myrmicinae. Species of the Myrmicinae and Formicinae were the most abundant with 62.96% and 29.63% respectively. The most diverse genus was Monomorium Mayr, 1855 (6 species), followed by Messor Forel, 1890 (5). The highest diversity of ants was in Djamaa region (24 species), followed by Ouargla (18) and El-Oued (13). Moreover, this work shows the first record of the species Strumigenys membranifera Emery, 1869 for the Country. Finally, we observed a variation in the distribution of ant species between study sites, for why, ecological determinants such as soil need to be studied deeply to explain their influence on the repartition and richness of the Saharan myrmycofauna of Algeria.

Exotic ants from the Maghreb (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with first report of the hairy alien ant Nylanderia jaegerskioeldi (Mayr) in Algeria

“…Wetterer 2012Wetterer (2012) (Sarnat et al, 2015) Strumigenys membranifera Chemala et al (2017) ≤ 1904 (Forel, 1904) as Taheri et al (2017) Afrotropical in Aïn Moussa, Ouargla, S. membranifera santschii in Marrakesh (Wetterer, 2015) wild ecosystem…”

“…According to Deyrup (1997), Strumigenys membranifera often occurs in disturbed open areas, such as lawns and pastures. A queen of this species was recently collected from the wild ecosystem of Ouargla region, Algeria (Chemala et al, 2017). Among the 873 dacetine species, only three species have achieved wide distributional ranges: S. rogeri Emery, 1890; S. emmae (Emery, 1890) and S. membranifera, see Bolton (1983).…”

“…Among the 873 dacetine species, only three species have achieved wide distributional ranges: S. rogeri Emery, 1890; S. emmae (Emery, 1890) and S. membranifera, see Bolton (1983). Though widespread, these minute dacetines are most inconspicuous (Chemala et al, 2017).…”

Species diversity of myrmecofauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on the southern slope of Djurdjura National Park (Northern Algeria)

“…While in the northern part of the same park, precisely in the forests of Tizi Ouzou, Djioua and Sadoudi-Ali Ahmed (2015), Myrmicinae dominates with 57% at all stations. In another type of landscape, in the northeastern Sahara, Chemala et al (2017) reported the dominance of Myrmicinae (62 %). In Chott El Hodna, Barech et al (2016), four subfamilies (Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae and Dorylinae) have been highlighted.…”

“…In Algeria, six sub-families have been reported: Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Dolichoderinae, Ponerinae, Dorylinae, and Proceratiinae (Cagniant, 1968(Cagniant, , 1970aDehina et al, 2013). Several authors have studied myrmecofauna in Algeria: Cagniant (1966Cagniant ( , 1968Cagniant ( , 1969Cagniant ( , 1970aCagniant ( , 1970bCagniant ( , 1973, Dehina et al (2013), Bouzekri et al (2014), Djioua and Sadoudi-Ali Ahmed (2015), Barrech et al (2016), and Chemala et al (2017).…”