Cataglyphis rockingeri (Forel)

Iran list Type location "Tian Schan" = Kazakhstan (Myrmecocystus (Cataglyphis) cursor Forel subsp. Rockingeri Forel, 1911e: 287, worker) "am linken Illiufer (Rockinger) (apparently meaning to the left of the (now named) Ili River).

The type location country is not definitely determinable - Tian Schan is a mountain range in Central Asia running west-southwest to east-northeast straddling the border between China and Kyrgyzstan and bisects the ancient territory of Turkestan. Forel's description is in a paper on ants in the "K. Zoologischen Museums in München", it appears to be one of only two species from the location, the majority of the species described are simply in the general collection, most being from Africa or South America. The other with an identical location is Camponotus maculatus F. subsp. turkestanicus Emery. The Ili River rises in modern China but for most of its length is in Kazakhstan.

Radchenko (1997a: 436-437, in Russian, listed it as a synonym (?, he had =) of Cataglyphis aenescens. To what extent he sighted any type specimens is unclear to me. Cataglyphis cursor also was synonymized under aenescens. See Pisarski (1969b: 315) on Mongolian ants gave it as Cataglyphis aenescens rockingeri For., with many records (thus giving it a wide distribution well east of the type location).

Forel's (1902a) description is at . The photomontage of a worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0911109, where it is listed under Cataglyphis aenescens. This and the Iran workers below are larger than what I feel is the type form of aenescens and is unformly dark rather than having lighter reddish areas; the overall appearance is almost silky due to the fine very spiculate sculpture.

Oxford University Museum specimens

Cataglyphis rockingeri B Taylor det.	Iran Shabnam Moradloo 14	2.v.2013 36.77°N   47.93°E	Nasir Abad 2164 m 25°C Forest Worker & queen	2
Cataglyphis rockingeri B Taylor det.	Iran E Aram 10	20.ix.2012 37.22°N 48.19°E	Hashtjin 1447 m hand collected, forest on soil major & minor	2
Cataglyphis rockingeri B Taylor det.	Iran E Aram 11	5.vii.2012 37.27°N 48.17°E	Mazraeh 918 m hand collected, village farm major & minor	2
Cataglyphis rockingeri B Taylor det.	Iran M Seiri 01