The genus Lepisiota Santschi, 1926 of the Arabian Peninsula with the description of a new species, Lepisiota elbazi sp. nov. from Oman, an updated species identification key, and assessment of zoogeographic affinities

Abstract

This study updates and summarizes information on the taxonomy and status of the Arabian Lepisiota fauna. We describe and illustrate the new species Lepisiota elbazisp. nov. from the Dhofar Governorate, Oman based on the worker caste. The new species is closest to the Arabian species, L. arabica Collingwood, 1985 from the southwestern mountains of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and can be separated by having fewer body hairs (two pairs on the posterior margin of the head, two or three pairs on the promesonotum and, one or two pairs on the first gastral tergite), the longer head, scapes, and propodeal spines, and the shorter mesosoma. We present the first illustrated key to the worker caste of the Arabian species of Lepisiota using stacked digital color images to facilitate species determination. The new species is probably endemic to the Dhofar Governorate and seems rare. An up-to-date synoptic checklist of 21 species representing the Arabian Lepisiota Santschi, 1926 is emended based upon the most recent literature in ant systematics. Five species are excluded from the Arabian Lepisiota fauna, L. arenaria (Arnold, 1920), L. erythraea (Forel, 1910), L. incisa (Forel, 1913), L. sericea (Forel, 1892a), and L. simplex (Forel, 1892) for issues related to previous species misidentification. Lepisiota carbonaria (Emery, 1892) is proposed as a senior synonym of L. depilis (Emery, 1897) syn. nov. The faunal composition of Lepisiota species recorded from the Arabian Peninsula can be divided/delineated into two main groups according to their zoogeographical relationships; (1) Afrotropical (11 species-~52.38%); (2) Palearctic (10 species-~47.62%) elements whereas eight species (~38%) are Arabian endemics.

Monomorium (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Arabian Peninsula with description of two new species, M. heggyi sp. n. and M. khalidi sp. n.

“…The majority of the endemic Arabian ant species has faunal similarities with taxa from the Afrotropic bioregion that has been earlier documented by several studies (Larsen, 1984;Collingwood, 1985;Sharaf, Aldawood & Taylor, 2012;Sharaf, Aldawood & El-Hawagry, 2012a, 2012bSharaf et al, 2020aSharaf et al, , 2020bEl-Hawagry et al, 2013Hájek & Reiter, 2014). Therefore, it is not surprising that a large proportion of the endemic Arabian Monomorium species (13/24) have been found in the mountainous ranges of southwestern KSA that extend to Yemen.…”

“…Biogeographically, the biota of the Arabian Peninsula does not constitute a cohesive unit ( Larsen, 1984 ; Sharaf et al, 2020a , 2020b ). Instead, the Arabian Peninsula is often considered to be at the nexus of two terrestrial biogeographic realms, the Palearctic and the Afrotropic.…”

“…Collingwood (1985) and Collingwood & Agosti (1996) recognized a total of 53 Monomorium species on the Arabian Peninsula, of which 17 were described from countries in the region. However, the taxonomic status of several species has remained uncertain due to brief descriptions with insufficient differential diagnoses, apparent ambiguities in the taxonomic keys, and lack of species-group assignment ( Sharaf et al, 2020a , 2020b ). The present study aims to clarify the current status of the Arabian Monomorium by providing the following: diagnoses of Arabian Monomorium and Monomorium species-groups, a synoptic checklist of Arabian Monomorium , an illustrated identification key to species based on the worker caste, new taxonomic treatments proposing new synonymies and describing two new species, and biogeographical analyses, including distribution maps.…”

Molecular phylogenetic analysis and morphological reassessments of thief ants identify a new potential case of biological invasions

“…Measurements and indices were performed as previously described 3 , 29 , 58 . All measurements are in millimeters.…”

A Preliminary Synopsis of the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Qatar with Remarks on the Zoogeography

“…Subfamilies, genera, and species are arranged in alphabetical order with diagnoses, material examined, geographic distribution and ecological and biological information when available. Measurements and indices of Lepisiota species follow standards of Sharaf et al 2020a. Type material in the following museums were examined for species confirmation.…”