Cataglyphis viaticoides

At Rawdhat Khorim, Saudia Arabia, C. viaticoides is a common species found throughout the year and abundant from June to October, with a peak in September. Cataglyphis viaticoides was often observed foraging on Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton (Apocynaceae) (Sharaf et al., 2013). Pashaei Rad et al. (2018) found this species in Iran on parkland ground in a moderate to very low rainfall area.

Identification
Salata et al. (2021) - Head and mesosoma uniformly yellowish red to reddish yellow, gaster entirely or mostly dark; thin layer of silvery hair limited to propodeum.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates. Palaearctic Region: Armenia, Greece, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey.

The collection of this species at Rawdhat Khorim, Saudi Arabia, represents the first record known for Saudi Arabia and the second record for the Arabian Peninsula. Collingwood et al. (2011) reported it from UAE (Sharaf et al., 2013).

Nomenclature

 * . Myrmecocystus albicans var. viaticoides André, 1881b: 57 (w.) LEBANON.
 * Arnol'di, 1964: 1809 (m.).
 * Combination in M. (Cataglyphis): Forel, 1911d: 354;
 * combination in Cataglyphis: Emery, 1925b: 263.
 * Subspecies of albicans: André, 1882b: 168 (in key); Emery, 1891b: 17; Dalla Torre, 1893: 216; Medina, 1893: 104; Forel, 1895d: 228; Forel, 1902a: 156; Forel, 1903b: 459; Forel, 1904b: 383; Emery, 1906d: 53; Forel, 1909c: 105; Karavaiev, 1910b: 37; Forel, 1911d: 354; Crawley, 1920b: 177; Emery, 1925b: 262; Santschi, 1929b: 61 (in key); Menozzi, 1933b: 85; Santschi, 1934d: 281; Ceballos, 1956: 317.
 * Status as species: Arnol'di, 1964: 1809; Collingwood & Yarrow, 1969: 85; Aktaç, 1977: 128; Collingwood, 1978: 92 (in key); Kugler, J. 1988: 259; Agosti, 1990b: 1495; Tinaut & Plaza, 1990: 192; Collingwood, 1993b: 195; Arakelian, 1994: 109; Bolton, 1995b: 137; Radchenko, 1997c: 428; Radchenko, 1998: 506 (in key); Vonshak, et al. 2009: 39; Legakis, 2011: 35; Collingwood, et al. 2011: 464; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 487; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 10; Sharaf, Abdel-Dayem, et al. 2013: 570; Borowiec, L. 2014: 62; Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, 2014: 139; Lebas, et al. 2016: 160; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2018: 5; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 44.
 * bulgarica. Cataglyphis (Cataglyphis) livida bulgarica Atanassov, 1982: 213, fig. 4 (w.q.) BULGARIA.
 * Subspecies of livida: Agosti, 1990b: 1494; Bolton, 1995b: 134.
 * Status as species: Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 293.
 * Junior synonym of livida: Radchenko, 1997c: 428.
 * Junior synonym of viaticoides: Salata et al., 2021: 128.
 * mixtus. Myrmecocystus albicans var. mixtus Forel, 1895d: 229 (w.) TURKEY.
 * Combination in M. (Cataglyphis): Forel, 1911d: 354;
 * combination in Cataglyphis: Emery, 1925b: 263.
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1906d: 53; Emery, 1925b: 263; Santschi, 1929b: 62 (in key); Santschi, 1934d: 281.
 * Subspecies of albicans: Forel, 1911d: 354; Agosti, 1990b: 1492; Bolton, 1995b: 136.
 * Junior synonym of livida: Radchenko, 1997c: 428; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 9.
 * Junior synonym of viaticoides: Salata et al., 2021: 128.

Taxonomic Notes
Bracko et al. (2016) - The status of this species was misinterpreted probably due to confusion with type material preserved in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. André (1881), in the original description, clearly wrote that specimens named as a Myrmecocystus albicans var. viaticoides were collected in Beyruth (Lebanon). As diagnostic features he noted red colouration of the head and mesosoma and mostly black gaster. In the same paper he described another taxon: Myrmecocystus albicans var. lividus. Specimens of this species were collected in Jaffa, Syria (now Israel) and were distinguished by whole body pale reddish and only apex of gaster infuscate (now dried syntypes appear faded and are almost completely yellow). Surprisingly, in the material preserved in Paris Museum one bicoloured syntype with dark gaster with determination label “viaticoides” has locality label “Syrie” (available in AntWeb https://www.antweb.org/specimen/ CASENT0912236) and another one, uniformly yellow syntype with determination label “viaticoides”, has locality label “Beyrouth” (available in AntWebhttps://www.antweb.org/ specimen/CASENT0915503). In the same collection there is also one syntype of uniformly yellow body with determination label “lividus” and locality label “Syrie” (available in AntWebhttps://www.antweb.org/specimen/CASENT0915499). We found two other syntypes with determination label “lividus” and locality label “Jaffa” in Forel’s collection in Genève (available in AntWeb https://www.antweb.org/specimen/ CASENT0911099) and in Santschi’s collection in Basel (available in AntWeb https:// www.antweb.org/specimen/CASENT0912207). Radchenko (1997) studied syntype labelled “Beyrouth” (with mostly yellow abdomen) and suggested that records of bicoloured Cataglyphis viaticoides from Turkey, Caucasus and Iran concern Cataglyphis rubra (Forel, 1903). In his next paper with a key to Asian members of the genus Cataglyphis (Radchenko 1998), he named bicoloured taxon as a C. rubra and unicoloured taxa as a C. lividus and C. viaticoides with note that C. viaticoides is a problematic species. Agosti (1990), in his review of Cataglyphis, noted that syntypes of C. viaticoides do not correspond with species description but he did not propose any solution of this problem. In our opinion only syntypes from Beyruth should be the true types of C. viaticoides, while syntypes from Syrie or Jaffa should be treated as a true types of C. lividus. Probably, discussed above syntypes, were inversely labeled in Paris Museum (bicolored specimens should have label "Beyrouth / Abeille" and uniformly yellow specimens should have label “Jaffa / Abeille” or "Syrie / Abeille"). Cataglyphis viaticoides is the only species of the mentioned above two taxa which occurs in Greece. Data on the distribution of C. bicolor (Fabricius, 1793) in Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, Iran, the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula should refer to C. viaticoides. True C. bicolor is restricted only to North Africa (Wehner et al. 1994, C. Galkowski pers. comm).

Salata et al. (2021) - Radchenko (1997), based on confusion related to the type labels of Cataglyphis livida and C. viaticoides (see Bračko et al. 2016), considered C. livida bulgarica and C. albicans mixtus as junior synonyms of C. livida. Results presented by Bračko et al. (2016) clarified that the only member of the livida complex with entirely or mostly black gaster is C. viaticoides and thus Cataglyphis livida bulgarica Atanassov, 1982 and Cataglyphis albicans mixtus (Forel, 1895) should be considered as its junior synonyms.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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