Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Wetterer, James K., Mohamed, Amr A. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2022, Faunal composition, diversity, and distribution of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Dhofar Governorate, Oman, with updated list of the Omani species and remarks on zoogeography, European Journal of Taxonomy 838 (1), pp. 1-106 : 41

Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977

Fig. 25

Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977: 474 (m) Yemen. Afrotropic.

Diagnosis

Male

Uniformly brown color except for paler jaws and legs; head moderately elongated and with curved sides, conspicuously interrupted by compound eyes which are large and strongly projecting on profile; mandibles thick, curved and without teeth; scape short and enlarged, longer than first funicular segment; funicular segments 1–11 gradually decreasing in length and slightly increasing in diameter towards apex; terminal funicular segment little longer than previous one; mesosoma uniformly rounded on sides, gradually descending towards descending face of propodeum; petiole round both on dorsal and lateral sides; fore wing with a distinctly marked short stretch of costal vein and no trace of pterostigma; genitalia much shorter and rounded; short subdecumbent setae sparse on all body surface ( Fig. 25 ).

Material examined

OMAN – Dhofar • 8 m; Ayn Hamran ; 17.100° N, 54.284° E; alt. 106 m; 20 Nov. 2017; LT; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 4 m; Ayn Ashat ; 16.998° N, 53.820° E; alt. 202 m; 21 Nov. 2017; LT; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 m; same collection data as for preceding; CASENT0922880; CASC .

Ecological and biological notes

Nothing is known on the ecology or biology of this species.

Geographic range

The original description was of a single male from Yemen. Our specimens represent the first records of the subfamily Leptanillinae from Oman. The species has been recorded from Yemen ( Collingwood & Agosti 1996; Collingwood & van Harten 2001) and UAE ( Collingwood et al. 2011). Alates of this subfamily were recently collected using light traps from the southwestern mountains of the KSA (Sharaf & Aldawood unpubl. data).

Figures

Fig. 25. Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977, ♂ (CASENT0922880, AntWeb.org (Michele Esposito)). A. Body in profile. B. Head in full-face view. C. Distribution map.