Pheidole sinaitica Mayr

MAJOR MINOR Type location Egypt (Mayr, 1862: 745, soldier & worker; Magretti, 1884: 542, queen; Finzi, 1936: 163, queen) collected in the Sinai Peninsula, by V. Frauenfeld; subspecies santschii (Pheidole Santschii, n.sp., Forel, 1907b: 204, soldier & worker; as a variety of sinaitica by Emery, 1915j: 234) from Tunisia, sent to Forel by Santschi; collected at Kairouan, where Santschi lived also known as "La Mecque"; junior synonym inermis (Pheidole pallidula Nyl. v. inermis n. v., Stitz 1917: 340; major & minor workers, new synonymy) from Algeria, Oude Agelil, 19.iii.1914, collector von Geyr.

Mayr's (1862) description is at . Mayr (1904b: 6) gave further notes . Forel's (1907b) description of santschii is at . Forel noted it compared with rugaticeps. Emery (1915j: 233) gave an illustrated description and comparision with jordanica; this is at (the image labelling is as given in Emery, 1919a).

Francis Gilbert has translated the Mayr (1904b) description as -
To complete the description of Ph. sinaitica Mayr given by me in 1862, at which time only a few Pheidole species had been definitively established, I add here [descriptions] valid both for the type ssp and for the ssp laticeps:
Soldier: The head with a rather long, not sparse pubescence. The upper mandible exteriorly on the base coarsely longitudinally striped. All flagellar segments longer than thick, but the 2nd segment often only very little longer than thick. The dorsum [basal] surface of the propodeum [medial segments] with a strong longitudinal groove.
Worker: Pubescence of the head sparse. Head oval, somewhat longer than broad, rounded behind the eyes, but rounded off [? ausgerandet] at the head articulation, which is about 1/3 as broad as the head. The scape (antennal stem) lying backwards surpasses easily the rear edge of the head, all flagellar segments longer than thick. The transverse bulge behind the mesonotum weak or very distinct.

Also reported from Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia but probably not found in true sub-Saharan Africa.

The specimens shown by us are an exact match for Forel's (1907b) description of Pheidole santschii.

Stitz (1917: 340) briefly described a new variety of Pheidole pallidula Nyl. v. inermis n. v., his description is at ). He noted only that the postpetiole had rounded sides compared with the conical sides of the type; the propodeum had short teeth; the occiput smooth with fine points; 2 majors and 4 minors, from Algeria, Oude Agelil, 19.iii.1914, collector von Geyr.

Even allowing for the brevity of Stitz's note, the features and drawing, CI 95 with heavy mandibles, appear to be a good match for the specimens from Egypt as shown below. This was confirmed by the photographs shown on the linked pages and collated from http://www.anttypes.org/ kindly sent to us by Dr Christiana Klingenberg.

Egypt records - Pheidole sinaitica Mayr (1862) see also André (1883b: 383 & 385), Mayr (1904b: 6), Emery (1915j: 234, illustrated, unavailable); Wheeler & Mann (1916) reported it from Cairo; recorded also in Mohamed et al (2001); .

Sharaf list - Material examined: Ghazal (Aswan), 2.v.2002 (7 ?)(18 minor workers , 10 ?), Flosyiat, Zaranik (North Sinai), 11.viii.2000 (54 minor workers); Ismailia, 13.xii.1997 (2 minor workers); El-Arish (North Sinai), 14.iii.2002 (6 minor workers, 3 ?); Nagh El-Shadeed (Aswan), 7.iii.2003 (3 minor workers, 1?), N.W.core zone (North Sinai) (17 minor workers) leg.H. El-Hennawy; El-Karnak temple (Luxor), 4.iii.2003 (10 minor workers); Luxor temple, 4.iii.2003 (2 minor workers); Ebn Salam (El-Daqahliya, Egypt), 7.xi.2002 (9 minor workers); Zaranik (North Sinai), 30.viii.2002 (5 minor workers); High dam (Aswan), 7.iii.2003 (2 minor workers) (SHC); Wadi El-Talaa, St.Catherine (South Sinai), 15.xi.1998 (2) Leg.M.R.Sharaf (ASUC).

Mohamad thesis (1979) had - Suez, 25.iv.1975; Port Fouad,30.v.1975; Ismailia, 1.viii.1975; Port Said, 7.viii.1975; Budkhulo (Dakhla oasis, Western desert), 2.ii.1978; El-Rashda (Dakhla oasis, Western desert), 5.ii.1978 (Coll.Ain.).

With the availability of fresh specimens from Egypt and Israel, the link pages give fresh photographs and descriptions of
Major workers; Minor workers

Male

Male from Ghazal Is, Aswan; E 32°53' N 24°05'; 2.v.2002.

Queen

Finzi (1936: 163) gave notes and an illustration of the queen, these are at .

Photomontage of a queen collected in Israel, Tel Aviv Botanical Garden, 19.iii.2007, collected by Armin Ionescu.

The photomontage is of a queen from Egypt, original by Mostafa Sharaf, DSCN2011.