Monomorium carbo

Monomorium carbo
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Solenopsidini
Genus:	Monomorium
Species group:	salomonis
Species:	M. carbo
Binomial name
Monomorium carbo Forel, 1910 Specimen Labels

Only known from a single collection of a few workers.

Identification

Bolton (1987) - A member of the M. australe complex in the M. salomonis species group. This enigmatic Ethiopian species is only known from the type-series of a couple of workers. At first glance it appears to be related to Monomorium minor, a yellow species from Namibia and Angola which itself seems to be intermediate between this complex and the viator-complex, but the wide separation of their habitats and the differences in their scape indices stand against this apparent relationship. Fresh material will have to be obtained before a clear picture of what constitutes S. carbo can be developed.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Afrotropical Erromyrma, Monomorium, Syllophopsis and Trichomyrmex species

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
Palaearctic Region: Ethiopia (type locality), Oman.

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.

Castes

Queens and males are unknown.

Nomenclature

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

• carbo. Monomorium salomonis var. carbo Forel, 1910c: 251 (w.) ERITREA.
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-locality: Eritrea: Ghinda, 1906 (K. Escherich).
  • Type-depository: MHNG.
  • Combination in M. (Xeromyrmex): Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 870.
  • Subspecies of salomonis: Forel, 1914d: 246; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 870; Emery, 1922e: 178; Finzi, 1939a: 164; Ettershank, 1966: 88.
  • Status as species: Santschi, 1936a: 39; Bolton, 1987: 339 (redescription); Bolton, 1995b: 260; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 343; Collingwood, et al. 2011: 433; Borowiec, L. 2014: 117; Madl, 2019: 15.
  • Distribution: Egypt, Eritrea, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Bolton (1987) - TL 2.3-2.4, HL 0.60-0.63, HW 0.43-0.45, CI 71-72, SL 0.44-0.48, SI 102-107, PW 0.30-0.31, AL 0.66-0.70 (2 measured).

Anterior margin of median portion of clypeus shallowly concave. With head in full-face view the sides weakly divergent from back to front, the occipital margin shallowly concave. Maximum diameter of eye 0.24-0.26 x HW and with 7 ommatidia in the longest row. The eyes very slightly in front of the midlength of the sides. Metanotal groove scarcely impressed in profile, the propodeal dorsum flattened to weakly depressed medially, without sharp lateral margins. Occipital margin of head with a pair of hairs straddling the midline and another pair closer to the occipital corners. Dorsal alitrunk without hairs. Petiole and postpetiole each with 1-2 pairs of backward directed hairs. First gastral tergite with numerous hairs which are evenly distributed over the surface in front of the apical transverse row. Dorsum of head opaque, shagreenate-punctulate everywhere. Dorsal alitrunk finely reticulate-punctate, the sides similarly sculptured but somewhat effaced on the sides of the pronotum. First gastral tergite shining, with superficial reticular patterning only. Colour uniform dark brown to blackish brown.

Type Material

Monomorium salomonis var. carbo Forel, 1910d: 251. Syntype workers, ETHIOPIA: Ghinda (K. Escherich) (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève) [examined].

References

• Bolton, B. 1987. A review of the Solenopsis genus-group and revision of Afrotropical Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology. 54: 263-452.. (page 339, Raised to species)
• Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Collingwood, C.A., Agosti, D., Sharaf, M.R., van Harten, A. 2011. Order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae. Arthropod fauna of the UAE 4: 405-474.
• Forel, A. 1910c. Ameisen aus der Kolonie Erythräa. Gesammelt von Prof. Dr. K. Escherich (nebst einigen in West-Abessinien von Herrn A. Ilg gesammelten Ameisen). Zool. Jahrb. Abt. Syst. Geogr. Biol. Tiere 29: 243-274 (page 251, worker described)
• Guillem, R., Bensusan, K. 2022. Thee new exotic species of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) for Madeira, with comments on its myrmecofauna. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 91: 321–333 (doi:10.3897/jhr.91.81624).
• Lamelas-Lopez, L., Gabriel, R., Ros-Prieto, A., Borges, P. 2023. SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores: VI - Inventory of Arthropods of Azorean Urban Gardens. Biodiversity Data Journal 11, e98286

(doi:10.3897/bdj.11.e98286).

• Rosas-Mejía, M., Guénard, B., Aguilar-Méndez, M. J., Ghilardi, A., Vásquez-Bolaños, M., Economo, E. P., Janda, M. 2021. Alien ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Mexico: the first database of records. Biological Invasions 23(6), 1669–1680 (doi:10.1007/s10530-020-02423-1).
• Sharaf, M. R., Wetterer, J. K., Mohamed, A. A., Aldawood, A. S. 2022. Faunal composition, diversity, and distribution of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Dhofar Governorate, Oman, with updated list of the Omani species and remarks on zoogeography. European Journal of Taxonomy 838: 1-106 (doi:10.5852/ejt.2022.838.1925).
• Sharaf, M.R., Mohamed, A.A., Boudinot, B.E., Wetterer, J.K., Hita Garcia, F., Al Dhafer, H.M., Aldawood, A.S. 2021. Monomorium (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Arabian Peninsula with description of two new species, M. heggyi sp. n. and M. khalidi sp. n. PeerJ 9, e10726. (doi:10.7717/peerj.10726).
• Wheeler, W. M. 1922j. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VIII. A synonymic list of the ants of the Ethiopian region. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 45: 711-1004 (page 870, Combination in M. (Xeromyrmex))

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Bolton B. 1987. A review of the Solenopsis genus-group and revision of Afrotropical Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 54: 263-452.
• Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Collingwood C. A., D. Agosti, M. R. Sharaf, A. Van Harten, 2011. Order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae. Arthropod Fauna of the UAE 4: 405-474
• Collingwood C.A., D.Agosti, M.R. Sharaf, and A. van Harten. 2011. Order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae. Arthropod fauna of the UAE, 4: 405–474
• Emery C. 1915. Formiche raccolte nell'Eritrea dal Prof. F. Silvestri. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della Reale Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura. Portici 10: 3-26.
• Ettershank G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171.
• Finzi B. 1939. Materiali zoologici dell'Eritrea raccolti da G. Müller durante la spedizione dell'Istituto Sieroterapico Milanese e conservati al Museo di Trieste. Parte III. Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Atti del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Trieste 14: 153-168.
• Forel A. 1910. Ameisen aus der Kolonie Erythräa. Gesammelt von Prof. Dr. K. Escherich (nebst einigen in West-Abessinien von Herrn A. Ilg gesammelten Ameisen). Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere 29: 243-274.
• Madl M. 2019. Notes on the ant fauna of Eritrea (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae): type specimens deposited in the Natural History Museum Vienna (Austria) and a preliminary checklist. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 9-18.
• 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
• Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VIII. A synonymic list of the ants of the Ethiopian region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 711-1004