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Cataglyphis are typical ants of dry, open places in Africa, the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and South Asian regions. they often forage in the heat of the day, when no other ants are on the surface. If you visit the famous antiquities and tourist sites of the area, such as the Parthenon in Greece, the now destroyed giant Buddha sculptures of Afghanistan (It's a safe bet the Taliban doesn't approve of ants, either!), the Pyramids of Egypt, or the great religious centers of the Holy Land, it is very likely that you will see the largish (often over 1cm.), dark-colored and fast-moving workers of some Cataglyphis species by simply watching any patch of open ground for a short while during warm weather.

Cataglyphis cursor of the deserts of North Africa is one of the most heat tolerant land animals known, able to withstand a full hour in a closed container at 54 Celsius (about 130 Farenheit) with no harm. In nature, they experience higher temperatures while running over the hot desert sands in full sun, but avoid harm from such harsh conditions by periodically climbing up grass stalks, pebbles and shrubs whenever possible to cool down to the more "confortable" temperatures in the 40's (still way above body temperature for us!).

Desert Cataglyphis seem to live by the misfortunes of other insects. Their main food is the scavenged dead bodies of insects that get lost and die in the extreme conditions of the desert. They very likely benefit from the artifical lighting provided around human habitation, since this draws in insects from remote, moister habitats to their death.

Formica incerta and nitidiventris (and F. schaufussi) are often active in hot weather in hotter and more southerly in Missouri, as well, and F. pallidefulva behaves similarly throughout the South. Mary Talbot reported Formica vinculans (of the neogagates group) to be the most thermophilic among the ants she studied at the George Reserve in Michigan.

A closer analog to Cataglypis may be the day-foraging Myrmecocystus of the southwestern deserts, but none of these American forms forage the high temperatures that the desert Cataglyphis do. Some Forelius and Dorymyrmex get close, however.