Contents Contents The Ants of Egypt
SUBFAMILY MYRMICINAE - Genus Monomorium
Monomorium nitidiventre Emery

bicolor-complex

Monomorium nitidiventre Emery

return to key Type location Yemen (Emery, 1893f: 256, worker; Mayr, 1901b: 7, queen; Karavaiev, 1911: 5, male; raised to species Collingwood, 1985: 272); type location wrongly given in Bolton (1995: 265) as Egypt; see below
new junior synonym
- judaicum (Menozzi, 1933b: 63, illustrated, worker) from Israel (transferred from subspecies of bicolor) - no images on Antweb (March 2019). .


Bolton (1987: 331) dealing with the bicolor-complex described nitidiventre as a sibling species from around the eastern end of the Mediterranean and did not include it among the Afrotropical species. He does not appear to have any reference to the Santschi (1914b: 73) report of nitidiventre from Naivasha, Kenya, collected by Alluaud & Jeannel, and neither of the papers by Karavaiev (1911) and Viehmeyer (1923), reporting Sudan findings, are among his references.


{Monomorium nitidiventre}Emery (1893f) simply noted, specimens from Aden [Yemen], collected by E Simon, - "differs from type (bicolor) by its smaller size, TL 2.6-2.8 mm; by its clear colour, which is more orange where the type is red and by the shiny gaster. Received also from Cairo". Emery (1908h: 677) had an illustrated note at {original description}. Karavaiev (1911) had {original description} and {original description}. Viehmeyer (1923) had {original description}. Menozzi's (1933b) illustrated description of judaicum is at {original description}

Collingwood (1985: 272) noted "This small bicoloured species ... differs from M. bicolor in the shorter head and appendages, the scape does not reach the occipital border - and by the presence of more numerous long dorsal hairs all over the alitrunk". The hairs on the dorsal alitrunk are clearly visible on the type worker (below). In defining Monomorium jizane, Collingwood & Agosti (1996) separated it as having hairs on the alitrunk whereas M. nitidiventre has not.  The question remains as to whether or not M. jizane is a separate species.


{Monomorium nitidiventre}The photomontage of a type collection worker from Yemen is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0904602


{Monomorium nitidiventre}The photomontage is of a specimen from Iran, Fars Province, collector Omid Paknia. It clearly shows the bluish sheen to the gaster and has the smaller size, etc., described for nitidiventre.

©2005, 2006, 2015, 2019 - Brian Taylor CBiol FRSB FRES
11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

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