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The Sultanate of Oman is a country on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, near the intersection of the Afrotropical, Palaearctic, and Indomalayan biogeographic realms. We surveyed ants at 18 sites between 16 and 22 November 2017 using beating sheets, hand picking, Malaise traps, sifting trays, sweeping net, and light traps on the coastal plains and monsoon slopes of Dhofar Governorate in southwest Oman, an area that is relatively verdant due to its exposure to monsoons between June and September. We collected 37 ant species, including 11 species recorded for the first time from Oman: Camponotus diplopunctatus Emery, 1915, Cardiocondyla minutior Forel, 1899, Cardiocondyla wroughtonii (Forel, 1890), Carebara arabica (Collingwood & van Harten, 2001), Leptanilla islamica Baroni Urbani, 1977, Monomorium clavicorne André, 1881, Monomorium floricola (Jerdon, 1851), Monomorium sahlbergi Emery, 1898, Strumigenys membranifera Emery, 1869, Anochetus sedilloti Emery, 1884, and Hypoponera ragusai (Emery, 1894). In total, 130 ant species are now known from Oman, including 53 from Dhofar. The known ants of Dhofar are primarily of Afrotropical origin (23 species, 43%), followed by Palearctic (20 species, 38%), and Indomalayan (4 species, 8%), and a single species from both the Malagasy and Neotropical Regions (1%). Five species (9%) are apparently endemic to Dhofar, Lepisiota dhofara Collingwood & Agosti, 1996, Lepisiota elbazi Sharaf & Hita Garcia, 2020, Crematogaster jacindae Sharaf & Hita Garcia, 2019, Meranoplus mosalahi Sharaf, 2019, and Nesomyrmex micheleae Sharaf, 2020. The zoogeography of the Omani ant fauna reflects a clear dominance of faunal elements from the Palearctic Region (68 species, 53%) followed by Afrotropical faunal elements (45 species, 34%), and five species that are broadly spread throughout both the Palearctic and the Afrotropical Regions (4%). There are nine species (6%) from the Indomalayan Region, two species from the Neotropical Region (2%), T. melanocephalum, C. emeryi, and a single species Ph. megacephala (1%) from the Malagasy Region. The number of endemic species (15 species, 12%) is relatively low compared to the large geographical area of Oman and the broad diversity of habitats that characterizes the country.
The blind and mostly endogean julid genus Stygiiulus Verhoeff, 1929 stat. nov. is reviewed to include ten species: S. ausugi (Manfredi, 1953) comb. nov., S. fimbriatus (Strasser, 1971) comb. et stat. nov., S. gentianae (Strasser, 1971) comb. et stat. nov., S. illyricus (Verhoeff, 1929) comb. nov., S. insularis (Strasser, 1938) comb. nov., S. maximus (Verhoeff, 1929) comb. nov., S. montellensis (Verhoeff, 1930) comb. nov., S. rotundatus (Strasser, 1962) comb. et stat. nov., S. seewaldi (Strasser, 1967) comb. nov., and S. tobias (Berlese, 1886) comb. nov. The distinctiveness of the genus from Typhloiulus is proven by both morphological and molecular data. The monotypic genus Alpityphlus Strasser, 1967 is here treated as a junior subjective synonym of Stygiiulus syn. nov. Stygiiulus fimbriatus comb. et stat. nov. and S. gentianae comb. et stat. nov., originally described as subspecies of S. ausugi comb. nov., are here erected to full species, while the subspecies S. illyricus stygis (Verhoeff, 1933) comb. et syn. nov. is considered to be a junior subjective synonym of the typical S. illyricus comb. nov. Lectotypes are formally designated for S. gentianae comb. et stat. nov. and S. rotundatus comb. et stat. nov., to stabilize the nomenclature of the two species under Article 74.1 of the ICZN. The phylogeny of the genus, its distribution patterns, and the modified mouthparts in some of its species are discussed.
A new genus and new species of Onciderini Thomson, 1860 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) are described and illustrated: Velozideres buntyni, from Ecuador. The following two new synonymies in Onciderini are proposed: Oncideres paurosoma Noguera, 1993 = Microcanus minor (Bates, 1885); Oncioderes piauiensis Martins and Galileo, 2013 = Oncioderes rondoniae Martins and Galileo, 1990. The following seven new country records are reported: Clavidesmus chicae Giorgi, 1998 (Onciderini) (Argentina); Ecthoea quadricornis (Olivier, 1795) (Onciderini) (Venezuela); Oncideres ophthalmalis Dillon and Dillon, 1946 (Onciderini) (Costa Rica); Oncideres punctata Dillon and Dillon, 1946 (Onciderini) (El Salvador); Oncideres xavieri Galileo and Martins, 2010 (Onciderini) (Peru); Trestonia signifera Buquet, 1859 (Onciderini) (Brazil); and Oideterus crenatocerus (Galileo, 1987) (Cerambycidae: Prioninae: Anacolini) (Costa Rica).
The species of Stenothemus Bourgeois, 1907 from Southwest China are reviewed. Three species are transferred to this genus, S. davidi (Pic, 1926) comb. nov. (from Malthacus Kirby, 1837), S. minutissimus (Pic, 1933) comb. nov. (from Micropodabrus Pic, 1920) and S. singularicollis (Pic, 1933) comb. nov. (from Lycocerus Gorham, 1895). Two new synonyms are suggested, S. dinshuiensis Švihla, 2011 syn. nov. is synonymized with S. davidi and S. melleus Švihla, 2005 syn. nov. with S. singularicollis. Stenothemus shaanxiensis Švihla, 2004 stat. nov. is raised to species level from a subspecies of S. benesi Švihla, 2004. Five new species are described, S. gracilis Y. Yang & X. Yang sp. nov., S. chongqingensis Y. Yang & H. Liu sp. nov., S. flavicollis Y. Yang & S. Ge sp. nov., S. jindraimimus Y. Yang & X. Yang sp. nov. and S. laticornis Y. Yang & H. Liu sp. nov., which are illustrated with photographs of habitus, aedeagi, abdominal sternites VIII and internal genitalia of the female. Characters of the female reproductive system are described for the first time for the following species: S. diffusus Wittmer, 1974, S. dundai Švihla, 2004, S. grahami Wittmer, 1974, S. jindrai Švihla, 2004, S. tryznai Švihla, 2004 and S. singularicollis. Some additional distribution information is added for previously known species. A key for the identification of all studied species is provided.
One new genus, Zagrotes gen. nov., and 19 new species of ground spiders (Gnaphosidae) are described from Iran: Berinda bifurcata sp. nov. (♂, Bushehr, Khuzestan; southwestern and southern Iran), Berinda hoerwegi sp. nov. (♂♀, Fars, Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan; western and southcentral Iran), Berlandina artaxerxes sp. nov. (♂ Yazd; central Iran), Cryptodrassus iranicus sp. nov. (♂, Kermanshah; western Iran), Drassodes persianus sp. nov. (♀, Kermanshah, Sistan & Baluchistan; western and southeastern Iran), Echemus caspicus sp. nov. (♀, Golestan; northern Iran), Gnaphosa qamsarica sp. nov. (♀, Isfahan; central Iran), Haplodrassus medes sp. nov. (♂, Fars; southcentral Iran), Haplodrassus qashqai sp. nov. (♂♀, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan; southwestern to southern Iran), Marinarozelotes achaemenes sp. nov. (♀, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad; southwestern Iran), Marjanus isfahanicus sp. nov. (♀, Isfahan; central Iran), Nomisia ameretatae sp. nov. (♂, Tehran; northern Iran), Prodidomus inexpectatus sp. nov. (♂, Hormozgan; southern Iran), Scotophaeus anahita sp. nov. (♀, Isfahan; central Iran), Scotophaeus elburzensis sp. nov. (♀, Tehran, Zanjan; northwestern and northern Iran), Sosticus montanus sp. nov. (♀, Ilam; western Iran), Synaphosus martinezi sp. nov. (♂♀, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad; southwestern Iran), Zagrotes apophysalis sp. nov. (♂♀, Hormozgan, Kohgiluyeh & Boyer-Ahmad; southwestern to southern Iran) and Zelotes hyrcanus sp. nov. (♀, Mazandaran; northern Iran). These are the first records of the genera Berinda Roewer, 1928, Echemus Simon, 1878 and Marjanus Chatzaki, 2018 in Iran. Additionally, the previously unknown female of Callipelis deserticola Zamani & Marusik, 2017 is described and illustrated, and Berlandina mesopotamica Al-Khazali, 2020 is recorded in Iran for the first time. Furthermore, Berinda idae Lissner, 2016 syn. nov. (Greece, Cyprus) is synonymized with Berinda infumatus (O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1872) comb. nov. (ex. Heser Tuneva, 2004; Greece, Tanzania, Egypt, Israel, introduced to Japan).
The species of the genus Pseudoblothrus Beier, 1931 from Italy are revised. Two species are present in this area: P. peyerimhoffi (Simon, 1905) (Piedmont) and P. regalini Inzaghi, 1983 (Lombardy). The following synonymy is proposed: Pseudoblothrus ellingseni (Beier, 1929) is a junior subjective synonym of P. peyerimhoffi (Simon, 1905) (syn. nov.). A key to all species of the genus Pseudoblothrus is provided.
Carniella brignolii Thaler & Steinberger, 1988 was first described based on a male from Austria and still belongs to the rare, scarcely studied species. Based on material from Germany and Switzerland the hitherto unknown female now can be assigned and presented. In this context a new synonymy is also proposed: The cave-dwelling, troglomorphic C. mihaili (Georgescu, 1989) from Romania, originally established as new genus Marianana, is synonymised with C. brignolii.
We review the diving-beetle genus Rhantus Dejean of Madagascar (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Colymbetinae) based on museum collection holdings and recently collected expedition material. Both morphology and DNA is used to test species boundaries, in particular whether newly collected material from the Tsaratanana mountains in the north represent a new species or are conspecific with Rhantus manjakatompo Pederzani and Rocchi 2009, described based on a single male specimen from the central Ankaratra mountains. DNA of the holotype of R. manjakatompo was successfully extracted in a non-destructive way and sequenced. The general mixed Yule coalescent model applied to an ultrametric tree constructed from mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequence data delimited three species. Morphological characters supported the same species unambiguously. We therefore recognise three species of Rhantus to occur in Madagascar: R. latus (Fairmaire, 1869), R. bouvieri Régimbart, 1900 and R. manjakatompo Pederzani and Rocchi, 2009. All three species are endemic to Madagascar and restricted to the highlands of the island. Rhantusstenonychus Régimbart, 1895, syn. n., is considered a junior synonym of R. latus. We designate lectotypes for R. bouvieri and R. goudoti Sharp, 1882, the latter a junior synonym of R. latus. We provide descriptions, a determination key, SEM-images of fine pronotal and elytral structures, distribution maps, habitus photos, and illustrations of male genitalia and pro- and mesotarsal claws. We discuss the role of the Manjakatompo forest as a refugium for Madagascan Rhantus diversity and other endemics of the montane central high plateau.
Linyphia triumphalis Denis, 1952 was found to be a junior synonym of Centromerus pabulator (O.P.-Cambridge, 1875) (Araneae, Linyphiidae). New synonymy.