Anochetus annetteae

The type locality of this species is a large date palm plantation (Phoenix dactylifera L.). A single specimen was found in moist soil under the base of a date palm tree and collected by digging around a palm tree where an unidentified species of termite was also observed nesting. The two paratype specimens were found foraging on the ground and collected by leaf litter sifting.

Identification
Anochetus annetteae is a member of the A. graeffei-group as defined by Brown (1978). The new species cannot be identified with available keys to the Anochetus species of Asia (Brown 1978), the Arabian Peninsula (Collingwood and Agosti 1996), the Mediterranean and the Middle East (Kugler and Ionescu 2007), the Indian (Bharti and Wachkoo 2013), and the Madagascan (Fisher and Smith 2008) regions. Anochetus annetteae appears most similar to A. yerburyi Forel, 1900, described from Sri Lanka, but is easily distinguished by the paler color, the smaller eyes (EI 12–15, with six to eight ommatidia in the longest row); the shorter scapes that fail to reach the posterior margin of the head in full-face view; the irregular and weaker pronotal and mesonotal sculpture. Anochetus yerburyi has a red-brown mesosoma, dark brown gaster, and yellow head and petiole; the eyes are distinctly larger (EI 21) with about 16 ommatidia in the longest row; the scapes longer when laid back from their insertions, reaching the posterior margin of the head; the pronotal sculpture is regularly circular.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Oman.

Biology
The type locality (Fig. 10) of the new species is a large date palm plantation (Phoenix dactylifera L.). A single specimen was found in moist soil under the base of a date palm tree and collected by digging around a palm tree where an unidentified species of termite was also observed nesting. The two paratype specimens were found foraging on the ground and collected by leaf litter sifting.

Nomenclature

 *  annetteae. Anochetus annetteae Sharaf, 2017 in Sharaf, Monks et al., 2017: 81, figs. 7-9 (w.) OMAN.