Crematogaster luctans

Identification
A member of the Crematogaster kneri group.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Eritrea, Kenya, Sierra Leone. Palaearctic Region: Iraq.

This species occurs in Tropical Africa and Saudi Arabia to Iraq (Abdul-Rassoul et al. 2013).

Nomenclature

 * . Crematogaster luctans Forel, 1907a: 22 (w.q.) TANZANIA.
 * Type-material: syntype workers, syntype queens (numbers not stated).
 * Type-locality: Tanzania (“Afrique orientale”): Mto-ya-Kifaru (Katona).
 * Type-depository: HNHM, MHNG.
 * Combination in C. (Sphaerocrema): Santschi, 1918d: 182.
 * Status as species: Emery, 1915g: 12; Emery, 1922e: 153; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 847; Finzi, 1939a: 164; Menozzi, 1942: 169; Collingwood, 1985: 261; Bolton, 1995b: 156; Borowiec, L. 2014: 67 (see note in bibliography); Madl, 2019: 15; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2020: 8.
 * Distribution: Eritrea, Tanzania.
 * Current subspecies: nominal plus liebknechti, sordidoides.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Abdul-Rassoul M. S., H. B. Ali, and R. SH. Augul. 2013. New Records of Unidentified Ants worker (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) stored in Iraqi Natural History Museum with key to Species. Adv. Biores., Vol 4 (2): 27-33.
 * 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. 1985. Hymenoptera: Fam. Formicidae of Saudi Arabia. Fauna of Saudi Arabia 7: 230-302.
 * Collingwood, C. A. and A. van Harten. 2001. Additions to the ant fauna of Yemen. Esperiana. Buchreihe zur Entomologie 8: 559-568.
 * Collingwood, C. A. and D. Agosti. 1996. Formicidae (Insects: Hymenoptera) of Saudi Arabia (Part 2) Fauna of Saudi Arabia 15: 300-385.
 * Collingwood, C. A., and A. van Harten. "Additions to the Ant Fauna of Yemen (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Buchreihe zur Entomologie 8 (2001): 559-568.
 * Collingwood, C. A.. "Hymenoptera: Fam. Formicidae of Saudi Arabia." Fauna of Saudi Arabia 7 (1985): 230-302.
 * Dufour B. 1991. Place et importance des différentes espèces d'insectes dans l'écologie du CSSV (Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus) au Togo). Café Cacao Thé 35(3): 197-204.
 * 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. 1907. Formicides du Musée National Hongrois. Ann. Hist.-Nat. Mus. Natl. Hung. 5: 1-42.
 * Ghahari H., M. R. Sharaf, A. S. Aldawood, and C. Collingwood. 2015. A contribution to the study of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Eastern Iran. Contributions to Entomology 65(2): 341-359.
 * Ghahari H., and C. A. Collingwood. 2011. A study on the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of southern Iran. Calodema 176: 1-5.
 * Ghahari H., and C. A. Collingwood. 2013. A study on the ants (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea: Formicidae) from Western Iran. Acta Phytopathologica et Entomologica Hungarica 48 (1): 155164.
 * 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., H. M. Al Dhafer, and S. A. Aldawood. 2014. First record of the myrmicine ant genus Meranoplus Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Arabian Peninsula with description of a new species and notes on the zoogeography of Southwestern Kingdom Saudi Arabia. PLoS ONE 9(11): e111298.
 * Soulié J., and L. D. Dicko. 1965. La répartition des genres de fourmis de la tribu des "Cremastogastrini" dans la faune éthiopienne et malgache. Hymenoptera - Formicoidea - Myrmicidae. Ann. Univ. Abidjan Sér. Sci. 1: 85-106.
 * 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