Filling gaps in global myrmecology: ants of the Kingdom of Bahrain (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Author Sharaf, Mostafa R. Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; & Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA; Author Wetterer, James K. Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL, USA; Author Mohamed, AbdulAziz M. A. Agriculture Affairs, Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, Kingdom of Bahrain; Author Georgiadis, Christos Section of Zoology-Marine Biology and Zoological Museum, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; Author Nasser, Mohamed G. Research Laboratory of Biogeography and Wildlife Parasitology (RLBWP), Department of Entomology, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Egypt Author Aldawood, Abdulrahman S. Department of Plant Protection, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; text Journal of Natural History 2024 2024-09-16 58 41 - 44 1705 1786 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2024.2388791 journal article 10.1080/00222933.2024.2388791 1464-5262 14241324 18D05DD2-4B64-4A87-8389-582D5714411C Tetramorium caespitum ( Linnaeus, 1758 ) ( Figure 36 ) Formica caespitum Linnaeus, 1758 , p. 581 (w.) Sweden . Palaearctic. Figure 35. Tetramorium bicarinatum . Queen. (A) Body in profile. (B) Head in full-face view, ANTWEB1041902, AntWeb.org (Michele Esposito). (C) Distribution map. Figure 36. Tetramorium caespitum . Neotype worker. (A) Body in profile. (B) Head in full-face view, CASENT0919632, AntWeb.org (Flavia Esteves). (C) Distribution map. Diagnosis Worker. TL 2.5–4 mm ; uniform black-brown to black; head with parallel sides and straight posterior margin in full-face view; eyes of medium size with about 7 ommatidia on longest row, located at midline of head in full-face view; anterior clypeal margin without anterior emargination; propodeal spines short, broadly denticulate, and upward directed; head and mesosoma regularly longitudinally striate; metanotal groove distinctly impressed; dorsum of petiolar node smooth or with feebly microreticulate; gaster smooth and shining. Material examined One site: B. Geographic range. A Holarctic species geographically distributed from the USA to Japan , North Africa to all of Europe ( Collingwood 1979 ; Wagner et al . 2017 ), and presumably native to the Palaearctic ( Seifert 1996 ) or the Oriental ( Smith 1965 ) regions. On the Arabian Peninsula it was recorded from the KSA ( Aldawood and Sharaf 2009 ). Ecology and biology. The nesting habits of T. caespitum range from natural to urban environments ( Collingwood 1979 ; Seifert 2007 ). The natural habitats include the open borders of woodlands, meadows, pastures, heaths, arid or semi-arid grasslands, vineyards, fallow grounds, ruderal areas, road embankments, rock heaps, gravel pits, and riverbanks, while the urban territories include public parks, pavements, and roadsides ( Klotz et al . 2008 ). Nests are constructed directly in the earth, under stones, or in rotten or dead wood ( Smith 1965 ; Collingwood 1979 ) and there is frequently a single queen (monogyny) with thousands of workers ( Seifert 1996 ), or polygyny ( Martinez 1993 ). The species is a generalised seed harvester and an active predator on arthropods, and attends aphids for honeydew ( Smith 1965 ; Wagner et al . 2017 ). A nest series at the Asir Mountains ( KSA ) was found in leaf litter and among grasses of the family Gramineae and coexisting with a single worker of Oxyopomyrmex nitidior Santschi, 1910 ( Aldawood and Sharaf 2009 ).