Cataglyphis bicolor (Fabricius)

Type location North Africa (Formica bicolor, Fabricius, 1793: 351, male) Desfontaines - no images on Antweb (January 2019)
subspecies
adustus (Cataglyphis bicolor var. adusta n. var., Santschi, 1929b: 43, all forms) from Tunisia - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912179
basalis (Cataglyphis bicolor var. basalis n. var., Santschi, 1929b: 42, all forms) from Algeria - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912181
protuberatus (Cataglyphis bicolor F., var. protuberata var. nov., Crawley, 1920b: 177, worker) from Iraq, Amar, 1918, Buxton - no images on Antweb (January 2019)
pubens (Cataglyphis bicolor var. pubens n. var., Santschi, 1929b: 43, all forms) from Morocco - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912185
rufiventris (Myrmecocystus (Cataglyphis) viaticus F. subsp. orientalis Forel v. rufiventris n. var., Forel, 1911d: 353; as M. bicolor var. orientalis in Emery, 1925b: 265, worker) from Greece, Corfu at edge of sea - see below.
sudanicus (Myrmecocystus bicolor Fabr. var. sudanica nova., Karavaiev, 1912b: 590, illustrated male genitalia, worker & male) from Sudan, Port Sudan - no images on Antweb (January 2019).
junior synonyms
fairmairei (Cat. fairmairei n. sp., Foerster, 1850b: 494, male) Algiers - no images on Antweb (January 2019)
megalocola (Formica megalocola n. sp., Foerster, 1850b: 490, worker; Emery, 1891b: 16, queen & male) Algiers - no images on Antweb (January 2019)
rotundinodis (Myrmecocystus albicans Rog. subsp. rotundinodis nova, Karavaiev, 1912a: 16, worker, from Oran, Plateau des Djabel Murdjado; under bicolor by Santschi, 1929b: 41) all from Algeria - no images on Antweb (January 2019) .

NOTE - I have separated off Cataglyphis congolensis, with gibbosus (labelled by Stitz but undescribed) as a synonym, Cataglyphis oasium and Cataglyphis seticornis. With these separations there is no evidence of bicolor from sub-Saharan Africa. The new realisation that there is a separate species, Cataglyphis saharae, from the Sahel zone indicates that the Forel (1910e) report of bicolor from Ghana was erroneous. Moreover. either this new species or seticornis surely gave gave rise to the old record of Cataglyphis setipes from Ghana; that has an angular profile to the petiole and marked white pubescence on much of the body.

Fabricius's (1793) description is at . Foerster's (1850b) description of the male fairmaieri is at and . Foerster's (1850b) description of the megalocola worker, is at Emery (1906b: 184) gave an illustrated comparative consideration, this is at . Karavaiev's (1912b) description of sudanicus is at (Karavaiev refers to his 1911 paper but there only the name appears, as "desertorum". Crawley's (1920b) description of protuberatus is at . Karavaiev's (1924) description of bellicosus is at .

Bolton (1995) gave the following -
Type location North Africa (Formica bicolor, Fabricius, 1793: 351, male); subspecies adustus (Santschi, 1929b: 43, all forms) and oasium (Cataglyphis bicolor st nodus var oasium, Santschi, 1929b: 46; Menozzi, 1932c: 95, all forms) from Tunisia, basalis (Santschi, 1929b: 42, all forms) from Algeria, bellicosus (Karavaiev, 1924: 307, worker) from Iran, congolensis (Stitz, 1916: 396, illustrated, worker) from Chad, protuberatus (Crawley, 1920b: 177, worker) from Iraq, pubens (Santschi, 1929b: 43, all forms) from Morocco, rufiventris (Emery, 1925b: 265, worker) from Greece, seticornis (Myrmecocystus bicolor ssp setipes variety seticornis, Emery, 1906d: 58, worker; the only mention in Wheeler, 1922) from Ghana, and sudanicus (Karavaiev, 1912b: 590, illustrated, worker & male [unavailable on HNS]) from Sudan; junior synonyms fairmairei (Cat. fairmairei n. sp., Foerster, 1850b: 494, male), megalocola (Formica megalocola n. sp., Foerster, 1850b: 490, worker; Emery, 1891b: 16, queen & male) and rotundinodis (Karavaiev, 1912a: 16, worker) all from Algeria.

Forel's (1911d) note on rufiventris simply noted differing from the ordinary form (of orientalis ??) in that the workers have most of the first and second segments of the gaster reddish-brown. It seems probable that this is a form of Cataglyphis viaticus.
Santschi (1929b) noted
adusta n var had the tarsi of major workers as of a red-brown, darker than the alitrunk; the media workers are even darker than the equivalent type media of the same size, from Tunisia;
basalis n var with the workers brighter red than the type, the gaster black with the base of the first two segments reddish, from Algeria and Tunisia;
pubens n var was of a clear red, the gaster black, often slightly bronzed and less shiny than the type, the small workers often are less dull, the head and alitrunk remaining red and only the legs are brown, from Morocco, Algeria and Canary Is.

WORKER - Petiole nodiform, gaster raised in locomotion, propodeum arched (from key to species-groups in Agosti, 1990). The bicolor complex was given by Agosti as having bicoloured workers which have appressed white to yellow pubescence on the hind tibiae. He further noted the bicolor complex as known from North Africa to Ivory Coast. The photograph (right) is from Hölldobler & Wilson (1990).

Wehner, Wehner & Agosti (1994), however, separated Tunisian Cataglyphis bicolor as - [bicolor, savignyi & viaticus] petiole nodiform, 3rd & 4th segments of maxillary palp about equal length; then, bicolor - head & alitrunk dark red, legs often black, black erect hairs on occiput, black pubescence on hind tibia.
They found also that bicolor prefers clayey soils, even heavy, moist soils, whereas viaticus and savignyi are distributed over more sandy areas.

The photomontage of a syntype worker of rufiventris is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0905722

The photomontage is of a worker from Sudan, Dilling; collector Zuheir Mahmoud (2009-70).

The photomontage is of a worker from Sudan, Al Kamin; collector Zuheir Mahmoud (2009-86).