Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977

Fig. 25

Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977: 474 (m) Yemen. Afrotropic.

Diagnosis

Male

Uniformly brown color except for paler jaws and legs; head moderately elongated and with curved sides, conspicuously interrupted by compound eyes which are large and strongly projecting on profile; mandibles thick, curved and without teeth; scape short and enlarged, longer than first funicular segment; funicular segments 1–11 gradually decreasing in length and slightly increasing in diameter towards apex; terminal funicular segment little longer than previous one; mesosoma uniformly rounded on sides, gradually descending towards descending face of propodeum; petiole round both on dorsal and lateral sides; fore wing with a distinctly marked short stretch of costal vein and no trace of pterostigma; genitalia much shorter and rounded; short subdecumbent setae sparse on all body surface (Fig. 25).

Material examined

OMAN – Dhofar • 8 m; Ayn Hamran; 17.100° N, 54.284° E; alt. 106 m; 20 Nov. 2017; LT; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 4 m; Ayn Ashat; 16.998° N, 53.820° E; alt. 202 m; 21 Nov. 2017; LT; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 m; same collection data as for preceding; CASENT0922880; CASC .

Ecological and biological notes

Nothing is known on the ecology or biology of this species.

Geographic range

The original description was of a single male from Yemen. Our specimens represent the first records of the subfamily Leptanillinae from Oman. The species has been recorded from Yemen (Collingwood & Agosti 1996; Collingwood & van Harten 2001) and UAE (Collingwood et al. 2011). Alates of this subfamily were recently collected using light traps from the southwestern mountains of the KSA (Sharaf & Aldawood unpubl. data).