Cataglyphis viaticus (Fabricius)

Included primarily for comparison and probably not present in Egypt. Bolton (1995) had -
Type location Spain (as Formica viatica, Fabricius, 1787: 308, worker; Mayr, 1861, queen & male); subspecies tonsilis (Santschi, 1929b: 32; Santschi, 1936c: 209, all forms - wrongly given as 1936a in Bolton, 1995) from Morocco; junior synonyms europaea (Formica cephalotes ssp europaea, Christ, 1791: 511, illustrated, worker; synonymy Emery, 1892b: 161) from "Europe", all forms known.

Fabricius' (1787) description is at . Mayr (1855: 318) gave a fuller description of the worker, this is at . Emery (1906b) gave notes, these are at . Santschi's (1929b) description of tonsilis is at .

Agosti (1990a), however, had separated tonsilis as a variety of mauritanicus in the altisquamis-group - so what is one to make of the confusion?

We have separated off desertorum, which appears to be clearly distinct, being very dark red and with longer legs plus the geographical separation. From Santschi's (1929b) illustrations given the distinctly squamiform petiole one would have to set tonsilis out from viaticus, as indeed was done by Agosti (1990a) and, possibly, also from mauritanicus.

Egypt Records - Radoszowsky (1976), without details, had "Egypt, Abyssinica". Mayr (1893: 195) noted it, by name only, as collected at Cairo by Dr. Fr. Stuhlmann (en route to East Africa). Mohamad thesis (1979) had - "Innes Bey recorded this species from Sinai in - Innes Bey (1911) Une list d' Insectes recueillis probablement par J.Lord en Egypte et determinés par F.Walker. Bull.Soc.Ent.Egypte., 2, 109.

One of the species studied by Dahbi, Hefetz & Lenoir (2008) - http://irbi.univ-tours.fr//UIEIS/Publis%20AL/Dahbi2008-BSE.pdf

Wehner, Wehner & Agosti (1994) established that viaticus-group members inhabit primarily montane areas; nesting in open areas among the relatively dry forests of western North Africa.

With their separation, an accurate description appears to be - TL 9-13 mm; head noticeably longer than wide; petiole high and angular but more pronouncedly so in smaller morphs; head & alitrunk dull orange; gaster opaque, dark to black; yellow erect hairs on the occiput and white pubescence on the hind tibiae;

The photomontages are of specimens from Morocco, Azemmour, 33°17'60.00"N, 8°20'60.00"W; at sea level, 21.v.2005, sent to BT by Alain Lenoir. Other images can be seen in the folder at - .