Open AccessTaxonomic Synopsis of the Ponto-Mediterranean Ants of Temnothorax nylanderi Species-Group
Author(s) -
Sándor Csősz,
Jürgen Heınze,
István Mikó
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0140000
Subject(s) - biology , zoology , species complex , taxonomy (biology) , species group , evolutionary biology , ecology , phylogenetic tree , gene , genetics
In the current revisionary work, the Temnothorax nylanderi species-group of myrmicine ants is characterized. Eighteen species belonging to this group in the Ponto-Mediterranean region are described or redefined based on an integrative approach that combines exploratory analyses of morphometric data and of a 658bp fragment of the mitochondrial gene for the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO I). The species group is subdivided into five species complexes: T . angustifrons complex, T . lichtensteini complex, T . nylanderi complex, T . parvulus complex, T . sordidulus complex, and two species, T . angulinodis sp. n. and T . flavicornis (Emery, 1870) form their own lineages. We describe seven new species ( T . angulinodis sp. n. , T . angustifrons sp. n. , T . ariadnae sp. n. , T . helenae sp. n. , T . lucidus sp. n. , T . similis sp. n. , T . subtilis sp. n.) , raise T . tergestinus (FINZI, 1928) stat.n. to species level, and propose a new junior synonymy for T . saxonicus (SEIFERT, 1995) syn.n. (junior synonym of T . tergestinus ). We describe the worker caste and provide high quality images and distributional maps for all eighteen species. Furthermore, we provide a decision tree as an alternative identification key that visually gives an overview of this species-group. We make the first application to Formicidae of the Semantic Phenotype approach that has been used in previous taxonomic revisions.