PeerJ (Jan 2019)

Review of the ant genus Meranoplus Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Arabian Peninsula with description of a new species M. mosalahi sp. n. from Oman

  • Mostafa R. Sharaf,
  • Abdulrahman S. Aldawood

DOI
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6287
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7
p. e6287

Abstract

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The species of Meranoplus Smith, 1853 of the Arabian Peninsula are reviewed based on the worker caste. Two species are recognized, keyed, and illustrated by Scanning Electron Microscope images (SEM), Meranoplus mosalahi and M. pulcher, Sharaf, 2014. Meranoplus mosalahi sp. n. is described from the Dhofar Governorate, Oman based on the worker caste. The new species belongs to the M. magrettii-group and closely resembles M. pulcher Sharaf, 2014 from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), from which it can be distinguished by the bicolored body, the shallowly concave anterior clypeal margin, the absence of well-developed anterior clypeal teeth, the fewer irregular longitudinal cephalic rugae, and the feeble longitudinal rugae on posterior face of petiolar node.

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