Cataglyphis viaticus (Fabricius)

Bolton (1995) had -
Type location Spain (as Formica viatica, Fabricius, 1787: 308, worker; Mayr, 1861, queen & male); subspecies tonsilis (Santschi, 1936a: 209, all forms) from Morocco; junior synonyms europaea (Formica cephalotes ssp europaea, Christ, 1791: 511, illustrated, worker; synonymy Emery, 1892b: 161) from "Europe", desertorum (Forel, 1894c: 402, worker; Karavaiev, 1912a: 17, male; raised to species Collingwood, 1985: 286, illustrated, worker; revised status Agosti, 1990a: 1491), from Spain; all forms known.

Fabricius' (1787) description is at - . Olivier (1792) had the description - . Mayr (1855: 381) had the description (as Monocombus viaticus) - . Emery (1906b) had the description - .

Agosti (1990a), however, separated tonsilis as a variety of mauritanicus in the altisquamis-group - so what is one to make of the confusion? Some clarification comes from Wehner, Wehner & Agosti (1994), who provided the illustration (right).

I have separated off desertorum, which appears to be clearly distinct, with a nodiform petiole, and not least from the geographical separation. Thus, the true distribution of viaticus appears to be western North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

The photomontage (right) is of a specimen from Morocco, ex Alain Lenoir.

Other images can be seen in the folder at -

The polymorphism photomontage (right) is of specimens from Morocco, ex Alain Lenoir.