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).