A preliminary study on the insect fauna of Al-Baha Province, Saudi Arabia, with descriptions of two new species

Abstract

A preliminary study was carried out on the insect fauna of Al-Baha Province, south-western part of Saudi Arabia. A total number of 582 species and subspecies (few identified only to the genus level) belonging to 129 families and representing 17 orders were recorded. Two of these species are described as new, namely: Monomorium sarawatensis Sharaf & Aldawood, sp. n. [Formicidae, Hymenoptera] and Anthrax alruqibi El-Hawagry sp. n. [Bombyliidae, Diptera]. Another eight species are recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia, namely: Xiphoceriana arabica (Uvarov, 1922) [Pamphagidae, Orthoptera], Pyrgomorpha conica (Olivier, 1791) [Pyrgomorphidae, Orthoptera], Catopsilia florella (Fabricius, 1775) [Pieridae, Lepidoptera], Anthrax chionanthrax (Bezzi, 1926) [Bombyliidae, Diptera], Spogostylum near tripunctatum Pallas in Wiedemann, 1818 [Bombyliidae, Diptera], Cononedys dichromatopa (Bezzi, 1925) [Bombyliidae, Diptera], Mydas sp. [Mydidae, Diptera], and Hippobosca equina Linnaeus, 1758 [Hippoboscidae, Diptera]. Al-Baha Province is divided by huge and steep Rocky Mountains into two main sectors, a lowland coastal plain at the west, known as “Tihama”, and a mountainous area with an elevation of 1500 to 2450 m above sea level at the east, known as “Al-Sarat or Al-Sarah” which form a part of Al-Sarawat Mountains range. Insect species richness in the two sectors (Tihama and Al-Sarah) was compared, and the results showed that each of the two sectors of Al-Baha Province has a unique insect community. The study generally concluded that the insect faunal composition in Al-Baha Province has an Afrotropical flavor, with the Afrotropical elements predominant, and a closer affiliation to the Afrotropical region than to the Palearctic region or the Eremic zone. Consequently, we tend to agree with those biogeographers who consider that parts of the Arabian Peninsula, including Al-Baha Province, should be included in the Afrotropical region rather than in the Palaearctic region or the Eremic zone.

The genus Enicospilus Stephens, 1835 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Ophioninae) in Saudi Arabia, with twelve new species records and the description of five new species

“…Conversely, the four species collected in Riyadh are Afrotropical, Palaearctic or widely distributed. This is closely correlated with the floristic composition of this area as has been reported by several authors (e.g., Eig 1938;Bolton 1994;Aldawood et al 2011;Sharaf et al 2012aSharaf et al , 2012bSharaf et al , 2014El-Hawagry et al 2013, 2015.…”

The genus Elaphopsocus Roesler (Psocodea: `Psocoptera´: Psocidae) with six new species from Brazil and Colombia

“…Thus, the lack of knowledge is evident in the alpha taxonomy of Psocidae in the Neotropics, where a high diversity of 'Psocoptera' has been documented recently (González-Obando et al 2011;García Aldrete et al 2012;Casasola-González et al 2013;Román-P. et al 2014;Calderón-Martínez et al 2014;García Aldrete & Silva Neto 2014). This contrasts with the diversity of psocids recorded in other latitudes (e. g. El-Hawagry et al 2013;Liu et al 2014).…”

A new species of the carpenter bee genus Xylocopa from the Sarawat Mountains in southwestern Saudi Arabia (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

“…11), along the steep road leading from the city of Al-Baha at the top of the Sarawat escarpment down to the Tihāmah. The fauna is largely Afrotropical in composition but intermingles Palearctic and Oriental elements (El-Hawagry et al 2013), and has a rather lush desert vegetation (Figs 12, 13). Both of Arabia’s natively occurring honey bees, Apis (Apis) mellifera L. and A. (Micrapis) florea Fabricius, are common at the locality, along with various halictines, anthidiines, apine genera such as Amegilla Friese and Thyreus Panzer, as well as the xylocopines Ceratina (Pithitis) tarsata Morawitz, Braunsapis alqarnii Engel & Michener, and X. (C.) sulcatipes (Engel et al 2014, Engel unpubl.…”

“…Measurements were taken with an ocular micrometer on an Olympus SZX12 stereomicroscope. The formats for the diagnosis and description follows those used elsewhere in the systematics of African-Asiatic Xylocopa (e.g., Eardley 1983; Hannan et al 2012), and these data are presented to enhance our current circumscriptions of species of Koptortosoma (e.g., Engel 2011, Gonzalez et al 2013), provide basic information from which broader synthetic patterns may eventually be established (Grimaldi and Engel 2007), and build a richer understanding of the Saudi bee fauna, particularly of the Al-Baha Region (El-Hawagry et al 2013). …”