Lepisiota spinisquama

Nests may include several queens and many hundreds of workers. These ants are general scavengers and will attack other insects. (Collingwood et al. 2004)

Identification
Collingwood et al. (2004) - this shiny black ant is characterised by spinal ornamentation on both the propodeum and the petiole.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Kazakhstan.

Biology
Collingwood et al. (2004) - The occurrence of L. spinisquama on Socotra, where it appears to be one of the commonest ants, is something of a riddle. The species is distributed in central Asia, and there are records from coastal southern Arabia (Collingwood 1985, Collingwood & Agosti 1996), but otherwise introductions have not been reported. In Socotri, "nimihil haher" (black ant) will usually refer to this species.

Nomenclature

 *  spinisquama. Acantholepis frauenfeldi subsp. spinisquama Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929c: 483, fig. 3 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. Combination in Lepisiota: Bolton, 1995b: 228. Raised to species: Pisarski, 1967: 410. Junior synonym of semenovi: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 163. Revived from synonymy: Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 369.