Messor muscatus

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Messor muscatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Stenammini
Genus: Messor
Species: M. muscatus
Binomial name
Messor muscatus
Collingwood & Agosti, 1996

Messor muscatus casent0922320 p 1 high.jpg

Messor muscatus casent0922320 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Nothing is known about the biology of Messor muscatus.

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 23.613333° to 14.635122°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia.
Palaearctic Region: Oman (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • muscatus. Messor muscatus Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 320, fig. 7 (w.) OMAN, SAUDI ARABIA, YEMEN.
    • Type-material: holotype worker, 4 paratype workers.
    • Type-locality: holotype Oman: Ras al-Hamra, Muscat, 19.vi.1985 (C. Holzschuh); paratypes: 1 worker with same data, 1 worker Saudi Arabia: Wadi Shijah, 4.v.1976 (W. Büttiker), 2 workers Yemen: Madinat al-Shariq, 7.iii.1993 (C.A. Collingwood).
    • Type-depository: NHMB (perhaps also in WMLC).
    • Status as species: Borowiec, L. 2014: 109.
    • Distribution: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen.

Description

Worker

Holotype: TL 5.2; HW 1.11; EL/HW 0.31; SI 103.

This small brown species has large eyes and a long scape which surpasses the occiput when laid back. The propodeum is rounded as in Messor syriacus. The psammophore is distinct but less developed compared with M. syriacus and the whole body is evenly brownish, not bicoloured as in M. syriacus. The postpetiole is long and low as in Messor crawleyi and Messor hismai but this species is distinctly different from both of these in the shape of the propodeum. There are long body hairs over the promesonotum and a few shorter hairs on the first gastral tergite.

Type Material

Holotype: worker, Oman, Ras al-Hamra, Muscat, 19.VI.1985, C Holzschuh. - Paratypes: Oman: 1 worker, same series as holotype. - Saudi Arabia: 1 worker, Wadi Shijah, 4.V:1976, W. Bilttiker. - Yemen: 2 workers, Madinat al-Shariq, 7.III.1993, C. A. Collingwood.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Collingwood, C. A., and Donat Agosti. "Formicidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) of Saudi Arabia (Part 2)." Fauna of Saudi Arabia 15 (1996): 300-385.
  • Sharaf M. R., B. L. Fisher, H. M. Al Dhafer, A. Polaszek, and A. S. Aldawood. 2018. Additions to the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Oman: an updated list, new records and a description of two new species. Asian Myrmecology 10: e010004