Lepisiota bipartita (Smith, 1861)

(Fig. 11 A–C)

Formica bipartita Smith, 1861 a: 33 (w.) Lebanon. Palearctic.

Diagnosis. Worker. Bicolored species with head, mesosoma, petiole, and appendages red, gaster dark brown to black; antennal scape relatively short (SI <200); petiole narrower, less than 0.30 × HW; body sculpture coarse, general appearance opaque; gaster always with some projecting hairs; body pilosity rare except for a few long setae on anterior clypeal margin, and promesonotum, and sparse appressed pubescence on cephalic dorsum.

Material examined. Qatar, Rawdet Rashed, 12.iii.2005, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 25°14.006’N, 51°12.286’E, 12w; Al-Rayyan, 25°18’N, 51°25’E, 15.iii. 2005, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 4 w; Al-Dohuil, 15.iii.2005, 25°22’N, 51°29’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 11w; Al-Dohuil, 8-18.iii.2005; 25°22’N, 51°29’E, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 82w (KSMA) .

Geographic distribution. The species is distributed across the Palearctic region from Algeria to Levant: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria (Sharaf 2006, Vonshak and Ionescu 2009, Borowiec and Salata 2020); the Arabian Peninsula: KSA, UAE (Collingwood and Agosti 1996, Sharaf et al. 2020); and Iran (Paknia et al. 2008, Pashaei Rad et al. 2018). Its distributional range reaches the Central Asia: Turkmenistan; and Oriental region: India.The studied material represents a new record for Qatar.