Cataglyphis velox

Cataglyphis velox
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Formicini
Genus:	Cataglyphis
Species:	C. velox
Binomial name
	Cataglyphis velox; Santschi, 1929 Specimen Labels

At a Glance

• Brachypterous Queen

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 41.28333333° to 36.298056°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Iberian Peninsula, Portugal, Spain (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

Colonies consist of a few queens and 784 ± 341 workers (range 220-1300)(16 colonies; P.A. Eyer, unpublished PhD).

Short-winged (non-flying) queens exit from natal nest, mate on branches, then re-enter natal nest. On one occasion, a colony was observed to fission the next day after mating (X. Cerda, unpublished observation from Sierra de Cazorla (Spain), July).

Nest entrance of C. velox with workers busy excavating soil. From southern Spain (Photo by Christian Peeters)

Castes

Queens are brachypterous, i.e. they emerge from cocoons with non-functional short wings (reviewed in Peeters & Aron 2017).

Three dealate egg-laying queens (note bigger gasters) of C. velox, together with workers of various body sizes. From southern Spain (Photo by Christian Peeters)

Thorax dissection of C. velox queen, showing the lack of wing muscles. By Christian Peeters)

Images from AntWeb


Paralectotype of Cataglyphis velox. Worker. Specimen code casent0912235. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

velox. Cataglyphis (Monocombus) viatica var. velox Santschi, 1929b: 30, figs. 6, 34 (w.) SPAIN.
- Type-material: 5 syntype workers.
- Type-locality: Spain: Seville (J.M. de la Fuente), Seville (J.M. Dusmet), Seville (Noualhier).
- Type-depositories: MNHN, NHMB.
- Tinaut, 1990c: 54 (q.m.).
- Junior synonym of viatica: Collingwood, 1979: 73.
- Subspecies of viatica: Santschi, 1932c: 73; Ceballos, 1956: 318; Agosti, 1990b: 1484.
- Status as species: Tinaut, 1990c: 52 (redescription); Bolton, 1995b: 137; Borowiec, L. 2014: 61; Lebas, et al. 2016: 162.
- Distribution: Spain.

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.
Cantone S. 2017. Winged Ants, The Male, Dichotomous key to genera of winged male ants in the World, Behavioral ecology of mating flight (self-published).
Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
Catarineu, C., Barberá, G.G., Reyes-López, J.L. 2018. Zoogeography of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of southeastern Iberian Peninsula. Sociobiology 65, 383-396 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2822).
Collingwood, C. A. 1979. The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomol. Scand. 8: 1-174 (page 73, Junior synonym of viaticus)
Darras, H., Kuhn, A., Aron, S. 2019. Evolution of hybridogenetic lineages in Cataglyphis ants. Molecular Ecology 28, 3073–3088 (doi:10.1111/mec.15116).
Jowers, M.J., Amor, F., Ortega, P., Lenoir, A., Boulay, R.R., Cerdá, X., Galarza, J.A. 2014. Recent speciation and secondary contact in endemic ants. Molecular Ecology 23, 2529–2542 (doi:10.1111/mec.12749).
Lenoir, A., Háva, J., Hefetz, A., Dahbi, A., Cerdá, X., Boulay, R. 2013. Chemical integration of Thorictus myrmecophilous beetles into Cataglyphis ant nests. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 51, 335–342 (doi:10.1016/j.bse.2013.10.002).
Peeters C & Aron S. 2017. Evolutionary reduction of female dispersal in Cataglyphis desert ants. Biological J. Linnean Society 122: 58–70.
Ruano, F., Tinaut, A., Soler, J.J. 2000. High surface temperatures select for individual foraging in ants. Behavioral Ecology 11, 396-404.
Santschi, F. 1929b. Étude sur les Cataglyphis. Rev. Suisse Zool. 36: 25-70 (page 30, figs. 6, 34 worker described)
Satria, R. 2017. Taxonomy of the ant genus Odontomachus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) in the Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malayan subregions. Ph.D. thesis, Tokyo Metropolitan University.
Tinaut, A. 1990. Taxonomic situation of the genus Cataglyphis Forster, 1850 in the Iberian Peninsula 2. New position for C. viatica (Fabricius, 1787) and redescription of C. velox Santschi, 1929 stat. n. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). EOS. Rev. Esp. Entomol (page 52, Revived from synonymy and raised to species)(page 54, queen, male described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Abril S., and C. Gomez. 2013. Rapid assessment of ant assemblages in public pine forests of the central Iberian Peninsula. Forest Ecology and Management 293: 7984.
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.
Asociacion Iberica de Mirmecologia. 2011. List of species collected during the Taxomara Lisboa 2010. Iberomyrmex 3: 32-33.
Asociacion Iberica de Mirmecologia. 2016. List of species collected during the Taxomara Murcia 2016. Iberomyrmex 8: 48-49.
Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
Boulay, R., J.M. Fedriani, A.J. Manzaneda and X. Cerda. 2005. Indirect Effects of Alternative Food Resources in an Ant-Plant Interaction. Oecologia 144(1):72-79
Espadaler, X.. "Formicidos de las sierras de Cazorla, del Pozo y Segura (Jaén, España)." Ecología 11 (1997): 489-499.
Gómez C., and S. Abril. 2011. Selective logging in public pine forests of the central Iberian Peninsula: Effects of the recovery process on ant assemblages Forest Ecology and Management 262: 1061-1066.
Ordóñez-Urbano C., J. Reyes-López, and S. Carpintero-Ortega. 2007. Estudio faunísidos de los formícidos (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) asociados a los bosques de ribera en la Provincia de Córdoba (España). Primeras Aportaciones. Boletin Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 40: 367-375.
Redolfi I., A. Tinaut, F. Pascual, and M. Campos. 2004. Nest density of the nat assemblage (Formicidae) in three olive orchards under different agricultural management in Granada, Spain. Ecología Aplicada 3(1,2): 73-81.
Retana J., and X. Cerdá X. 2000. Patterns of diversity and composition of Mediterranean ground ant communites tracking spatial and temporal variability in the thermal environment. Oecologia 123: 436-444.
Reyes-López, J., J. López-Tirado, and R. Obregón-Romero. "Nuevas citas de hormigas parásitas y esclavistas (Hym., Formicidae) para Sierra Mágina (Andalucía)." Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología 35, no. 3-4 (2011): 497-501.
Sanchez-Gil Jimeno R., and J. L. Reyes-Lopez. 2016. Study of ants species of the Sierra de San Carlos del Valle (Ciudad Real) and updating the provincial check list (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Boln. Asoc. esp. Ent. 40 (1-2): 93-109.
Sanllorente O., P. Lorite, F. Ruano, T. Palomeque, and A. Tinaut. 2017. Phylogenetic relationships between the slave-making ants Rossomyrmex and their Proformica hosts in relation to other genera of the ant tribe Formicini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Zool Syst Evol Res. 1–13.
Tinaut A. 2016. Ants of the Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Mountains Natural Park (Andalusia, Spain) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Boln. Asoc. esp. Ent., 40 (1-2): 125-159.
Tinaut, A., J. Jiménez Rojas, and R. Pascual. "Estudio de la mirmecofauna de los bosques de Quercus Linneo 1753 de la provincia de Granada." Ecología 8 (1995): 429-438.
Tinaut, A.. "Taxonomic situation of the genus Cataglyphis Förster, 1850 in the Iberian Península. II. New position for C. Viatica (Fabricius, 1787) and redescription of C. Velox Santschi 1929 stat. n." EOS (Revista española de entomología) 66(1) (1990): 49-59.
Trigos-Peral G., and J. L. Reyes-Lopez. 2013. Primera relacion de los formicidos (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) de la Reserva Natural Lagunas de Campillos (Malaga). Boln. Asoc. esp. Ent. 37 (3-4): 217-224.