First record of the myrmicine ant genus Meranoplus Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Arabian Peninsula with description of a new species and notes on the zoogeography of southwestern Kingdom of [corrected] Saudi Arabia

Mostafa R Sharaf; Hathal M Al Dhafer; Abdulrahman S Aldawood

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111298

First record of the myrmicine ant genus Meranoplus Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Arabian Peninsula with description of a new species and notes on the zoogeography of southwestern Kingdom of [corrected] Saudi Arabia

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 6;9(11):e111298. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111298. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Mostafa R Sharaf¹, Hathal M Al Dhafer¹, Abdulrahman S Aldawood¹

Affiliation

¹ Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agriculture Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The ant genus Meranoplus is reported for the first time from the Arabian Peninsula (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) by the new species M. pulcher sp. n., based on the worker caste. Specimens were collected from Al Sarawat and Asir Mountains of southwestern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using pitfall traps. Meranoplus pulcher sp. n. is included in the Afrotropical M. magretii-group, with greatest similarity to M. magrettii André from Sudan. A key to the Afrotropical species of the M. magretii-group is presented. A brief review of the ant taxa with Afrotropical affinities in southwestern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is given.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Ants / classification*
Classification
Saudi Arabia

Grants and funding

This project was supported by the NSTIP Strategic technologies program, grant number (12-ENV2484-02), in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.