Camponotus oasium Forel, 1890

(Fig. 6 A–C)

Camponotus rubripes r. oasium Forel, 1890: lxv (s.w.q.) Algeria. Palearctic.

Diagnosis. Worker. Underside of head with one or two setae; mesosomal dorsum with about ten erect setae; dorsum of petiole steeply rounded; first gaster tergite with basal two thirds testaceous; large workers with head, mesosoma, and dorsum dark brown to black, head brown, lower half of mesosoma usually yellow and distinctly paler than mesosomal dorsum, gaster and appendages yellow; small workers uniform yellow with end of gaster brown.

Material examined. Qatar, Doha, Al-Dohuil, 14.iii.2005, 25°22’N, 51°29’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 4w (KSMA) .

Geographic distribution. A species described from Algeria and distributed in the west Africa (Benin, Mali, Niger, Senegal), Horn of Africa (Ethiopia), and North Africa [Algeria, Egypt (Sharaf 2006)]; eastwardly from Arabian Peninsula to Afghanistan and north to Turkey (Karaman and Aktaç 2013) and Central Asia [Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan (Radchenko 1997a)]. In the Arabian Peninsula, it is recorded from the UAE (Collingwood et al. 2011), KSA, Oman (Collingwood 1985). It is recorded for the first time from Qatar.

Ecological and biological notes. This species was collected from a tamarisk tree, Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge, in the Nile Delta (Egypt) and was observed attending the membracids (Sharaf 2006).