Abstract
A new ant species, Monomorium dryhimi, is described based on workers from a single colony collected in Al Bahah, Asir Province, Saudi Arabia. This is the fourth species of the Monomorium monomorium-group collected from Arabian Peninsula, and appears to be closely related to Monomorium holothir Bolton, 1987, from Kenya. It can be distinguished by the following characters: head in profile with a weakly convex dorsal surface and a clearly convex ventral surface; eyes of moderate size with maximum diameter EL 0.19–0.25 × HW and with 6 ommatidia in the longest row; body colour yellow to light brownish yellow. In some individuals, head and gaster slightly but conspicuously darker than rest of body. Second halves of first and second gastral tergites with two characteristic brownish transverse bands. An identification key to the workers of the Arabian species of the Monomorium monomorium-group is presented. Scanning electron micrographs are given to illustrate the new species.
Highlights
The ant genus Monomorium was established by Mayr (1855) for the newly described species M. minutum Mayr (which was given the new name Monomorium monomorium Bolton (1987:287))
The Afrotropical Monomorium fauna was comprehensively revised by Bolton (1987)
Two new South American species of Monomorium were described by Fernández (2007) and notes on the genus were presented
Summary
The ant genus Monomorium was established by Mayr (1855) for the newly described species M. minutum Mayr (which was given the new name Monomorium monomorium Bolton (1987:287)). This genus includes more than 300 species and subspecies (Bolton 1995; Bolton et al 2007) found in all zoogeographic regions with most species occurring in the Old World tropics and temperate regions (Brown 2000). The Afrotropical Monomorium fauna was comprehensively revised by Bolton (1987). Most species of Monomorium nest in rotten wood, under stones, or directly in the soil
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