Cataglyphis mauritanica

Cataglyphis mauritanica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Formicini
Genus:	Cataglyphis
Species:	C. mauritanica
Binomial name
	Cataglyphis mauritanica; (Emery, 1906) Specimen labels
Subspecies
	Cataglyphis mauritanica occidentalis Cagniant, 2009; Cataglyphis mauritanica tonsilis Santschi, 1936;

At a Glance

• Brachypterous Queen

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 36.833333° to 31.633333°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Tunisia (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Biology

Knaden & Wehner (2006) observed colony fission events. Workers left their nest and excavated a new nest about 30 m away from the natal nest. Four dealated queens were waiting at the natal nest entrance. After about 4 hours of digging, a worker carried a queen to the new nest, while the remaining three queens remained in the old nest. Dispersal by DCF is consistent with the brachypterous nature of queen (Peeters & Aron 2017).

Colonies have about 1500 workers (range 200-3000) (N=60 colonies) (A. Kuhn, unpublished data)

Castes

Brachypterous queen of C. mauritanica, showing the short wings and lack of wing muscles. Dissection by Christian Peeters, photo by Adam Khalife.

Nomenclature

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

mauritanica. Myrmecocystus viaticus subsp. mauritanicus Emery, 1906d: 57, figs. 23-26 (w.m.) TUNISIA, ALGERIA, MOROCCO.
- Santschi, 1929b: 31 (q.).
- Combination in Cataglyphis: Emery, 1912f: 98;
- combination in C. (Monocombus): Santschi, 1929b: 29.
- Subspecies of viatica: Emery, 1908g: 216; Emery, 1925b: 266; Santschi, 1929b: 31; Santschi, 1939c: 5; Cagniant, 1964: 93.
- Status as species: Agosti, 1990b: 1483; Wehner, et al. 1994: 168; Bolton, 1995b: 136; Cagniant, 2006a: 195; Cagniant, 2009: 48; Borowiec, L. 2014: 58 (see note in bibliography).
- Current subspecies: nominal plus occidentalis, tonsilis.

Description

References

Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
Dahbi, A., Hefetz, A., Lenoir, A. 2008. Chemotaxonomy of some Cataglyphis ants from Morocco and Burkina Faso. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 36, 564–572 (doi:10.1016/j.bse.2008.03.004).
Darras, H., Kuhn, A., Aron, S. 2019. Evolution of hybridogenetic lineages in Cataglyphis ants. Molecular Ecology 28, 3073–3088 (doi:10.1111/mec.15116).
Jacobs, S. 2020. Population genetic and behavioral aspects of male mating monopolies in Cardiocondyla venustula (Ph.D. thesis).
Knaden M, Wehner R. 2006. Fundamental difference in life history traits of two species of Cataglyphis ants. Frontiers in Zoology 3: 21.
Peeters C & Aron S (2017) Evolutionary reduction of female dispersal in Cataglyphis desert ants. Biol. J. Linnean Soc. 122: 58–70.*Salata, S., Borowiec, L., Trichas, A. 2020. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Crete, with keys to species determination and zoogeographical remarks. Monographs of the Upper Silesian Museum No 12: 5–296 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.3738001).
Trible, W., Kronauer, D.J.C. 2021. Hourglass model for developmental evolution of ant castes. Trends in Ecology, Evolution 36, 100–103 (doi:10.1016/j.tree.2020.11.010).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Agosti D. 1990. Review and reclassification of Cataglyphis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Journal of Natural History 24: 1457-1505.
Agosti, D. 1990. Review and reclassification of Cataglyphis (Hymentopera: Formicidae) . Journal of Natural History 24:1457-1505.
Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
Cagniant H. 2009. Le genre Cataglyphis Foerster, 1850 au Maroc (Hyménoptères Formicidae). Orsis 24: 41-71.
Cagniant, H.. "Étude de quelques fourmis marocaines. Statistique provisoire des Formicidae du Maroc." Bulletin de la Société d' Histoire naturelle de l' Afrique du Nord 53 (1964): 83-118.
Cagniant, H.. Les peuplements de fourmis des forêts algériennes: écologie, biocénotique, essai biologique. Universite de Toulouse, 1973.
Emery C. 1906. Rassegna critica delle specie paleartiche del genere Myrmecocystus. Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna (6)3: 47-61.
Emery C. 1908. Myrmecocystus viaticus et formes voisines. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 44: 213-217.
Galkowski C., C. Lebas, P. Wegnez, A. Lenoir, and R. Blatrix. 2017. Redescription of Proformica nasuta (Nylander, 1856) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) using an integrative approach. European Journal of Taxonomy 290: 1–40.
Santschi, F. 1929. Etude sur les Cataglyphis. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 36: 25-70.
Santschi, F.. "Étude sur les Cataglyphis." Revue Suisse de Zoologie 36 (1929): 25-70.
Wehner R., S. Wehner, and D. Agosti. 1994. Patterns of biogeographic distribution within the bicolor species group of the North African desert ant, Cataglyphis Foerster 1850 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Senckenb. Biol. 74: 163-191.