A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Qatar

Abstract

The State of Qatar is a small peninsula located in the northeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is classified as a subtropical desert with a very extreme harsh climatic conditions in summer and mild winter. Information on Formicidae of Qatar as well as its insect fauna is poorly documented. So far only six species of Formicidae (ants) belonging to five genera have been recorded from Qatar. At least 300 ant species have been recorded from the Arabian Peninsula (Collingwood et al., 2011). For instance, Collingwood and Agosti (1996) reported a list of 265 ant species in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Collingwood et al. (2011) published a list of 126 ant species in UAE and Sharaf et al., (2018a) recorded 123 ant species from Oman. This indicates a significant gap regarding our knowledge of the ant fauna and their diversity in Qatar. This study provides the first taxonomic survey of the ant fauna of Qatar. Ant specimens were collected by using aspirator, direct hand collection, litter sifting and pitfall traps during the period of April 2015 to March 2019 from 43 sites around the country. In the present study 45 species are newly recorded for the ant fauna of the state of Qatar increasing the total number of ant species from Qatar to 51 species, including one additional subfamily, and 16 additional genera