Solenopsis cooperi Donisthorpe

Type location Egypt (Donisthorpe, 1947e: 110, male & queen).

Donisthorpe's (1947e) description is at .

Egypt records - 8 alate queens & 5 males; collected by J Omer-Cooper; at Siwa, 15 & 24.v.1935; also 175 males from Siwa, 21.viii.1935, reported earlier as unnamed by Donisthorpe (1942a: 30). Sharaf list - material examined: Mafareq (South Sinai), 5.iii.1998 (11) (SHC).

Mohamad thesis (1979) had - Burg El-Arab (Alexandria), 20.iii.1956 (Coll.Alf.) Burg El-Arab (Alexandria), 20.iii.1956 (Coll.Ain.)

Ecological note (M Sharaf) - this species was observed nesting under the base of a tree trunk under ground, in a sandy soil in Saloga protected island, Aswan; there were a nest of a termite Ametermes aswanensis close to the ant nest.

See: Sharaf, M. R., Taylor, B. & Klingenberg, C., 2009, Ants of the genus Solenopsis Westwood, 1840 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Egypt with a description of the worker castes of S. cooperi Donisthorpe, 1947., Zootaxa 2004, pp. 49-58.

The photomontage of the type queen is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0902334

Possibly the best candidate for the queen illustrated by Savigny (Audouin, J.-V. 1825-27: Plate 20 Fig 20).

Oxford University Museum specimens

Solenopsis cooperi B Taylor det.

Egypt M Sharaf

2.v.2002 Aswan 24°05' N 32°56' E

Saloga Island

3

The photomontage is of a queen, photographed by Mostafa Sharaf. After colour correction, the appearance is a close match to the type queen and the description given by Donisthorpe (1942a); notably being brown, with a yellow gaster, smooth & shining, with pale yellow appendages. the large ocelli also appear to be very distinctive compared to the other circum-Mediterranean species.

The photomontage and the one below are of workers from Saloga Island, Aswan, collected by Mostafa Sharaf, 2.v.2002, in association with the male shown above. These are readily distinguished from the known circum-Mediterranean species by the long pedicel to the petiole; the relatively high, narrowly rounded petiole profile; the longer head with a flat narrow profile; also the angular near dentate and longitudinally weakly furrowed propodeum.

Second worker

The photomontages are of males from Saloga Islands (Aswan), 2.v.2002, 24.05º N, 32.56 º E, collected by Mostafa Sharaf, 2.v.2002.

These appear to match the rather short description of S. cooperi given by Donisthorpe (1942a); notably being brown, smooth & shining, with pale yellow appendages. the large ocelli also appear to be very distinctive compared to the other circum-Mediterranean species.