Cataglyphis albicans (Forel)
Type location North
Africa (Formica albicans, Roger, 1859: 235, worker ; André,
1882b: 174, male; Forel, 1894d: 11, queen) - no type images on Antweb
(July 2014)
junior synonym
armenus (C.
albicans armena K. Arn.
ssp. n., Arnol'di, 1964: 1808, illustrated, all forms; synonymy
Radchenko, 1997e: 425) from Armenia
- see below
subspecies
cubicus (Myrmecocystus
albicans r. cubicus n. st., Forel, 1903c: 267, worker
& queen) from Morocco, Tangier collected by Arthur Müller -
see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0911103
fezzanensis (Bernard, 1948: 163, all forms) from Algeria
- see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0913618
kairuanus (Cataglyphis
albicans Rog.
var. Kairouana n. var.,
Santschi, 1912c: 149, worker) from Tunisia - no
images on Antweb
mixtus (Myrmecocystus
albicans v. mixtus n.
v., Forel, 1895d: 229, worker)
from Turkey - no
images on Antweb
opacus (Cataglyphis
albicans Rog.
var. opaca n. var., Santschi,
1912c: 149, worker) from Tunisia - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912175
targuius (Cataglyphis
(Cataglyphis) albicans
Rog. v. targuia n. var.,
Santschi, 1929b: 55, footnote, worker; Santschi, 1929c: 106) from Algeria -
see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0912177
.
Note - we have removed the subspecies Cataglyphis
franchettii to the status of full species, with specimens collected at St
Katharine's, Sinai, Egypt, by Mike James. Collingwood
& Agosti (1996) raised Cataglyphis
auratus Menozzi and Cataglyphis
vaucheri (Emery) to species. Also separated are the Cataglyphis lividus forms,
generally yellowish to red with darkish gasters.
|
Roger's (1859) description is at . Forel's (1903c) description of cubicus
is at . Emery's (1906b: 177)
description and illustrated notes on the male is at . Emery's (1906d) description of vaucheri
is at .
Santschi's (1912c) description of kairouanus
is at .
Santschi's (1912c) description of targuius and other notes is
at .
Bernard's (1948) description of fezzanensis and notes
is at .
Arnol'di's (1964) description of armenus
is at .
|
The distinctive colouration and pubescence strongly
suggests armenus should be separated and I have given it a
separate page with, along
with a fresh worker from Iran - see Cataglyphis albicans armenus.
|
Forel
(1895d) on mixtus had as v. lividus but reddish with the
gaster behind and below blackish; larger and the head longer. Emery
(1906d) had the worker, TL 6 mm, head 1.6 X 1.7 mm, posterior tibia 2
mm; black with submetallic reflections, appendages brown. Santschi
(1912c) wrote of the type form as being from
the Algerian Atlas, being black, with the major and minor all with the
head entitrely smooth and shiny. His varieties kairouna and opaca had the majors with matt
variably longitudinally striate heads.
Writing
of specimens collected in Egypt (Sinai) Finzi (1936) described the
species as uniformly piceous-brown,
appendages reddish-yellow; wholly sublucid (semi-shiny), due to overall
fine dense striations; erect hairs sparse on the clypeus, occipitum,
propodeum and margins of gaster segments. He noted the specimens were
identical to others in his collection from Tunisia. The major shown
below
appears closer to the Finzi description of colour but conforms to the
Santschi drawing as regards alitrunk morphology.
Colour variations:
cubica is
yellow-brown, the head and alitrunk concolorous contrasting with a
shiny dark brown gaster.
fezzanensis has
the same base colour as cubica but
the gaster is a distinctive yellow-brown.
opacus is a
unicolorous dark brown.
targuia is
similar to opacus but with a
lighter brown head.
|
Oxford University Museum
specimens
Cataglyphis albicans
B Taylor det. |
Egypt
A Shepherd
plant 144
|
2010
Sinai
28°33' N
33°56' E
|
St Katherine
Protectorate around the town of St Katherine, in mountains above 1500m
|
1
|
![{album}](../album.jpg) |
Cataglyphis albicans
B Taylor det. |
Egypt
A Shepherd
mid 366
|
2010
Sinai
28°33' N
33°56' E
|
St Katherine’s
Protectorate
|
2
|
![{album}](../album.jpg) |
Cataglyphis albicans
B Taylor det. |
Egypt
A Shepherd
mid plant 182
|
2010
Sinai
28°33' N
33°56' E |
St Katherine’s
Protectorate |
1
|
![{album}](../album.jpg) |
|
The photomontages are of workers collected in the Sinai
Desert, Egypt, St Katherine
Protectorate around the town of St Katherine, in mountains above 1500m,
in 2010 by Amy Shepherd, a research
student of Francis Gilbert.
These especially the major differ somewhat from the poor
description of the type in appearing to be more red. They do appear
close to other modern specimens, e.g. https://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0900322,
from Morocco.
|
Minor worker
|
Minor worker
|
|