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Myrmica xavieri sp. n., a new ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Spain PDF

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©EntomologicaFennica.7March2008 Myrmica xavieri sp. n., a new ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Spain AlexanderRadchenko,GrahamW.Elmes&*RiittaSavolainen Radchenko,A.,Elmes,G.W.&Savolainen,R.2008:Myrmicaxavierisp.n.,a newantspecies(Hymenoptera:Formicidae)fromSpain.—Entomol.Fennica 19:49–54. HerewedescribeanewantspeciesfromSpain,Myrmicaxavieri.Weplaceitin the Myrmica lobicornis species group of which three species are previously knownintheIberianPeninsula:M.lobicornisNylander,M.wesmaeliBondroit, andM.lobulicornisNylander.Ofthese,M.xavierimostcloselyresemblesM. wesmaeli.M.xavieriislikelyanIberianendemic,arelictofthefaunaisolatedin theIberianPeninsuladuringthePleistocene. A.Radchenko,MuseumandInstituteof Zoology,PolishAcademyof Sciences, 64WilczaStreet,00-679Warsaw,Poland;e-mail:[email protected] G.W.Elmes,CentreforEcology&Hydrology,CEHWallingford,Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, United Kingdom; e-mail: [email protected] R.Savolainen,DepartmentofBiologicalandEnvironmentalSciences,P.O.Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland; *corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] Received19January2007,accepted12June2007 1.Introduction longscape,withscapeindexSI >0.60(seedefi- 1 nition of the scape index below). In contrast, In the ant genus Myrmica, the shape of the an- males of the schencki-group and scabrinodis- tennal scape is important in defining species groupspecies–queensandworkersofwhichare groups (Radchenko 1994a). Key features ofthe mosteasilyconfusedwiththoseofthelobicornis scapearetheshapeandorientationofanyridgeor group – have a much shorter scape, with SI < 1 dentiform lobe at the bend of the base of the 0.50.Thefemalecastesofmostlobicornis-group scape,oftencombinedwithadegreeofbending. specieshaveaverticallobeordentonthescape Somespecieshaveaverticallobeatthebendof bendthatneverextendshorizontally(relativeto thescape(relativetothedorsalplaneofthehead), thedorsalplaneofthehead)asdoesthelobeor orahorizontallobeorridge,whereasinothersthe ridgeofmostscabrinodis-groupspecies.Atone lobeorridgeislackingorbarelyvisible.Species extreme, lobicornis-group species with large oftheMyrmicalobicornisgroupareunambigu- lobesmaybeconfusedwithsomeschencki-group ously defined by the combination of following species,andattheotherextreme,specieswithno features of both the female and male castes lobesmaybeconfusedwithafewspeciesofthe (Radchenko1994a,b):workersandqueenshave scabrinodisgroup. antennalscapesthatarestronglycurvedandoften Three lobicornis-group species are previ- angled at the base, and males have a relatively ouslyknownfromtheIberianPeninsula:M.lobi- 50 Radchenkoetal. (cid:127) ENTOMOL.FENNICAVol.19 cornisNylander,M.wesmaeliBondroit,andM. anteriormargin)tothemid-pointoftheoc- lobulicornis Nylander which was raised to spe- cipitalmargin. ciesrankbySeifert(2005).Intheyear2000,one HTL length of hind tibia, measured from its ofus(RS)collectedanestofalobicornis-group junctionwiththefemurtothejunctionwith species,includingsexualforms,whichappeared thefirsttarsaljoint. distinctfromtheotherthreespecies.Afteraclose HW maximumwidthofheadindorsalviewbe- examination of the Elmes Myrmica collection, hind(above)theeyes. another sample, collected ten years earlier, was PH maximumheightofpetioleinprofile,mea- detected. Individuals of the two nest samples, suredfromtheuppermostpointofthepeti- coming from well separated sites in Spain, olarnodeperpendicularlytotheimaginary showedthesameclearmorphologicaldifferences linebetweentheanteroventral(justbehind from all other known species, and therefore we thesubpetiolarprocess)andposteroventral describethemasanewspecies,Myrmicaxavieri. pointsofpetiole. PL maximum length of petiole from above, measuredfromtheposterodorsalmarginof 2.Materialandmethods petiole to its anterior edge at the articula- tionwithpropodeum;thiscanbedifficult Thematerialconsistedof20workers,30queens toseeandpetioleshouldbepositionedsuch (gynes),and35malesfromtwonestseries.The thatmeasuredpointslayonthesameplane, sampleswerecollectedbyhandinSpainin1990 andasthisisnotalwayspossiblethisvari- and2000.Wemeasured19morphometricchar- ableisprobablysubjecttogreatermeasure- actersofworkers,queensandmales(unlessoth- menterrorthantheothers. erwisestated),withanaccuracy to0.01mm,as PNWmaximumwidthofpronotumfromabove follows: indorsalview(workers). PPH maximum height of postpetiole in profile AH heightofalitrunk,measuredfromtheupper from its uppermost to lowermost points, levelofmesonotumperpendicularlytothe measured perpendicularly to the linear level of lower margin of mesopleuron component of the lateral post-petiolar su- (queensandmales). ture. AL diagonallengthofalitrunkseeninprofile, PPL maximumlengthofpostpetiole,measured fromtheneckshieldtotheposteriormargin from above from its anterior to posterior ofthemetapleurallobe(workers)andfrom margins. the anterio-dorsal point of alitrunk to the PPW maximumwidthofpostpetiolefromabove. posterior margin of the metapleural lobe PW maximumwidthofpetiolefromabove. (queensandmales). SCL combinedlengthofscutumandscutellum ESD distancebetweentipsofpropodealspines fromabove(queensandmales). fromabove(queensandworkers). SCWmaximum width of scutum from above ESL maximumlengthofpropodealspineinpro- (queensandmales). file,measuredalongthespinefromitstipto SL maximum straight-line length of antennal thedeepestpointofthepropodealconstric- scapeseeninprofile. tionatthebaseofspine(queensandwork- ers). Wecalculatedthefollowingindicesbasedonthe FLW maximumwidthbetweenexternalborders abovemorphometriccharacters: ofthefrontallobes(queensandworkers). FW minimumwidthoffronsbetweenthefron- AI=AL/AH alitrunklengthindex talcarinae(queensandworkers). CI=HL/HW cephalicindex HL lengthofheadindorsalview,measuredina ESDI=ESD/ESL epinotal(propodeal)spine straightlinefromtheanteriormostpointof distanceindex median clypeal margin (including any ESLI=ESL/HW epinotal(propodeal)spine carinaeorrugae,iftheyprotrudeoverthe lengthindex ENTOMOL.FENNICAVol.19 (cid:127) Myrmicaxavieri,anewantspeciesfromSpain 51 Table1.Means±standarddeviationsofthemorphometriccharacters(seetextfordetails)inmmfortheholotype andparatypesofM.xavieri.Numbersofindividualsmeasuredpercastearegiveninparenthesesincolumn headings. Character Holotype Workers(20) Queens(7) Males(9) AH 1.106±0.034 1.062±0.038 AL 1.820 1.741±0.042 1.923±0.035 1.791±0.050 ESD 0.460 0.445±0.021 0.467±0.017 ESL 0.420 0.422±0.013 0.491±0.019 FLW 0.430 0.426±0.013 0.442±0.007 FW 0.340 0.333±0.011 0.359±0.008 HL 1.220 1.209±0.027 1.277±0.018 0.896±0.019 HTL 0.920 0.888±0.023 0.943±0.018 0.936±0.044 HW 1.080 1.053±0.030 1.121±0.026 0.847±0.021 PH 0.425 0.403±0.014 0.461±0.007 0.378±0.014 PL 0.520 0.489±0.023 0.560±0.013 0.490±0.009 PNW 0.800 0.757±0.023 PPH 0.505 0.494±0.012 0.566±0.011 0.455±0.016 PPL 0.420 0.382±0.022 0.461±0.012 0.356±0.016 PPW 0.475 0.471±0.015 0.556±0.009 0.446±0.016 PW 0.330 0.324±0.013 0.360±0.014 0.301±0.015 SCL 1.276±0.024 1.204±0.026 SCW 0.920±0.013 0.867±0.017 SL 1.000 0.976±0.019 0.993±0.010 0.839±0.018 FI=FW/HW fronsindex 1,500ma.s.l.),7.VII.1990,seriesE-117,leg.G. FLI=FLW/FW frontallobeindex W.Elmes.Thenestoftheholotypewasinopen HTI=HTL/HW hindtibialengthindex pineforest(Pinussylvestris)withmoistsoil.The PI =PL/PH petioleindex(1) paratypenestwasca.180kmNNWoftheholo- 1 PI =PL/HW petioleindex(2) type site in well-trampled grass on a mountain 2 PPI =PPL/PPH postpetioleindex(1) passnearapineforestinthemountainsofSoria 1 PPI =PPH/PPW postpetioleindex(2) Province,byaroadbetweenSoriaandLogroño. 2 PPI =PPW/PW postpetioleindex(3) Both nests were in soil under stones. The holo- 3 PPI =PPW/HW postpetioleindex(4) typeisdepositedintheNaturalHistoryMuseum 4 SCI=SCL/SCW scutellumindex (BMNH), London, United Kingdom, and the SI =SL/HL scapeindex(1) paratypes, in the Institute of Zoology of Ukrai- 1 SI =SL/HW scapeindex(2) nian National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, 2 Ukraine, and in the collections of Graham W. Elmes, UnitedKingdom, andXavier Espadaler, 3.DescriptionofMyrmicaxavierisp.n. SanCugat,Spain. (Figs.1–3,Tables1–2) Diagnosis.Worker(Fig.1).Headlongerthan itswidthwithslightlyconvexsidesandoccipital Material examined. Holotype worker: Spain, margin, and broadly rounded occipital corners. Aragón,ProvinceofTeruel,SierradeAlbarracín, Anterior clypeal margin narrowly rounded, Fuente del Canto, ca. three km WSW of Bron- somewhat prominent, with no medial notch. chales(40°30’N,1°37’W,1,630ma.s.l.),1.VIII. Frontalcarinaefairlystronglycurved,fronsrela- 2000,No.334/2000(seriesE-186inthecollec- tivelynarrow,thoughfrontallobesnotwidelyex- tionofG.W.Elmes),leg.R.SavolainenandK. tended. Antennal scape strongly angled at the Vepsäläinen.Paratypes:9workers,30gynesand base,withsmallverticallobe. 35malesfromthenestoftheholotype;10work- Alitrunk with slightly convex promesonotal ers,Spain,CastillayLéon,ProvinceofSoria,Si- dorsum;promesonotalsutureclearlyvisiblefrom erradeUrbion,ca.25kmNofSoria(frommem- above; metanotal groove sharp and deep. oryElmesplacesitintheregion42°N,2°30’W, Propodealspineslong,acute,straightanddiver- 52 Radchenkoetal. (cid:127) ENTOMOL.FENNICAVol.19 Fig.1.Myrmicaxavieriworker(holotype;scalebars1 mm).–a.Head,dorsalview.–b.Scape,lateralview, seenfrombehind.–c.Scape,dorsalview.–d.Base ofscape,lateralview,seenfromahead.–e.Baseof Fig.2.Myrmicaxavieriqueen(paratype;scalebars1 scape,anteriorview.–f.Alitrunkandwaistinprofile. mm).–a.Head,dorsalview.–b.Scape,lateralview, –g.Alitrunkandwaistfromabove.–h.Tibiaandbase seenfrombehind.–c.Scape,dorsalview.–d.Base offirsttarsaljointofhindleg. ofscape,lateralview,seenfromahead.–e.Baseof scape,anteriorview.–f.Alitrunkandwaistinprofile. gent(seenfromabove)projectingbackwardsat –g.Alitrunkandwaistfromabove.–h.Tibiaandbase an angle less than 45° (seen in profile). Petiole offirsttarsaljointofhindleg. with distinct anterior peduncle, its anterior face slightly concave, not steep, meeting the dorsal muchlongerthanthoseonheadmargin.General surfaceatabluntroundedangle;dorsalsurfaceof colour reddish-brown, appendages somewhat petiolarnodeslightly convex,gradually sloping lighter. posteriorly. Postpetiole distinctly shorter than Queen(Fig.2).Likeworkerinshapeofhead, broad,withconvexdorsum.Spursonmiddleand scape,generalcolourandpilosityofthebody,but hindtibiaewelldevelopedandpectinate. withcoarsersculpture,especiallyonthealitrunk, Frons with sinuous longitudinal rugae, re- petioleandpostpetiolethantheworker.Themain mainingpartsofheaddorsumwithcoarsereticu- differenceisamoremassivepetiolethaninwork- lation. Antennalsocketssurroundedby concen- ers, with a shorter anterior peduncle. Also the tricrugae.Clypeuswithlongitudinalrugae,fron- propodeal spines are longer and less divergent tal triangle coarsely striated. Sides of alitrunk thaninworkers. with moderately coarse sinuous longitudinal Male (Fig. 3). Head somewhat longer than rugae,pronotumwithcoarserrugaeandreticula- broad, with slightly convex sides and occipital tion. Petiole and postpetiole with fairly coarse margin,andgraduallyroundedoccipitalcorners. longitudinally-concentricrugae,moresinuouson Anterior clypeal margin narrowly rounded and thenodesofdorsum.Surfacebetweenrugaeon slightlyprominentwithnomedialnotch.Anten- thebodysmoothandshiny. nal scape very long and strongly curved at the Headmarginswithabundant,semierecthairs; base.Antennae13-segmented,with3-segmented alitrunk dorsum and waist with numerous hairs club, second funicular segment about twice as ENTOMOL.FENNICAVol.19 (cid:127) Myrmicaxavieri,anewantspeciesfromSpain 53 Etymology. This species is dedicated to the Spanishmyrmecologist,Dr.XavierEspadaler. 4.Discussion Differential diagnosis. The female castes of M. xavieri clearly differ from those of the other lobicornis-groupspeciesbytheabsenceofame- dialnotchintheiranteriorclypealmarginwhich isnarrowlyroundedandprominent.Alltheother specieshaveadistinctmedialnotchintheante- riorclypealmarginwhichisbroadlyroundedand not prominent. Superficially M. xavieri may be confused with M. lobulicornis and especially withM.wesmaeli.TheworkersofM.xavieridif- fer from both, however, by their distinctly nar- rowerfrons(meanFI0.32vs.0.34and0.37,re- spectively). When the 20 specimens measured here (Table 2) were compared with a randon sampleofM.wesmaeli(whichincludedthelecto- Fig.3.Myrmicaxavierimale(paratype;scalebar1 type and several paralectotypes) in a linear mm).–a.Head,dorsalview.–b.Antenna.–c. discriminantanalysis,FIalonewassufficientto Alitrunkandwaistinprofile.–d.Alitrunkandwaist produce 100% discrimination between the two fromabove.–e.Tibiaandfirsttarsaljointofhindleg. samples(lineardiscriminantfunctionswere2905 FI–534forM.wesmaeliand2487FI–391for longasthethirdone. M.xavieri).InclusionofSI andHTIsomewhat 2 Alitrunkfairlylong,scutumslightlyconvex, improvedthediscrimination(thethreeindicesare scutellum not projecting dorsally above scutum morphometricsstandardisedforsizebydividing when seen in profile. Propodeum with blunt byHW). rounded tubercles. Petiole rather massive, rela- M.xavierihasdistinctlymoreextendedfron- tively high, with straight anterior face and tal lobes than M. wesmaeli (mean FLI 1.28 vs. rounded dorsum of node; postpetiole distinctly 1.18), but less extended frontal lobes than M. longer than its width, with weakly convex dor- lobulicornis(meanFLI1.34).M.xavierialsodif- sum. fersfromM.lobicornisandM.lobulicornisbyits Headdorsumwithstriationanddensepunc- distinctly longer propodeal spines (mean ESLI tures.Scutumwithdenselongitudinally-concen- 0.40vs.(cid:1)0.30)andbythedifferentshapeofthe tricrugae,scutellumwithcoarserandlessabun- petiole:theanteriorpeduncleofthepetioleisvery dantrugae.Pro-andmesopleurawithfinerugae, short in M. lobicornis and M. lobulicornis, and propodeum with coarser rugae. Petiole and the anterior face of the node (seen in profile) is postpetiolefinelybutnotdenselypunctured,peti- flat and steep, meeting the dorsal surface at a oleadditionally hasfinerugulae, centralpartof right-angle or even more acutely. In M. xavieri petiolar and postpetiolar dorsum smooth and thepeduncleislonger,itsanteriorfacemorecon- shiny.Surfaceonalitrunkbetweenrugaesmooth cave, meeting the dorsal surface with a blunt andshiny. roundedangle. Headmargins,alitrunkandwaistwithabun- Liketheworkersandqueens,themalesofM. dant,relativelyshortsemierecthairs.Scape,tib- xaviericlearlydifferfromallotherspeciesofthe iaeandtarsiwithshortsubdecumbenttosuberect lobicornisgroupbytheirnarrowlyroundedand hairs. General colour of body dark brown to unnotchedanteriorclypealmargin.Theyalsodif- black,appendagessomewhatlighter. fer by having a distinctly longer antennal scape 54 Radchenkoetal. (cid:127) ENTOMOL.FENNICAVol.19 Table2.Means±standarddeviationsoftheindicescalculatedfromthemorphometriccharactersofTable1(see textfordetails)fortheholotypeandparatypesofM.xavieri.Numbersofindividualsmeasuredpercasteare giveninparenthesesincolumnheadings. Character Holotype Workers(20) Queens(7) Males(9) AI 1.740±0.039 1.688±0.062 CI 1.130 1.149±0.014 1.139±0.017 1.058±0.018 ESDI 1.095 1.056±0.056 0.952±0.044 ESLI 0.389 0.401±0.016 0.438±0.014 FI 0.315 0.316±0.009 0.320±0.004 FLI 1.265 1.281±0.023 1.231±0.023 HTI 0.852 0.843±0.019 0.841±0.023 1.105±0.051 PI 1.224 1.214±0.028 1.215±0.020 1.296±0.033 1 PI 0.481 0.464±0.018 0.500±0.012 0.579±0.015 2 PPI 0.832 0.772±0.035 0.815±0.021 0.781±0.013 1 PPI 1.063 1.048±0.032 1.020±0.025 1.022±0.025 2 PPI 1.439 1.455±0.041 1.546±0.066 1.481±0.046 3 PPI 0.440 0.448±0.010 0.496±0.013 0.527±0.024 4 SCI 1.387±0.030 1.390±0.022 SI 0.820 0.807±0.013 0.778±0.013 0.937±0.020 1 SI 0.926 0.927±0.018 0.886±0.023 0.991±0.022 2 (SI >0.90,SI >0.95vs.<0.85,<0.90)andthus castes and the exceptionally long scapes of the 1 2 the male may be confused more easily with M. males,however,wellseparateM.xavierifromall rubra(L.)orM.ruginodisNylander.Thescapeof otherknownspeciesofthatgroup(ca.20known thelattertwospeciesis,however,gentlycurved species).ItismostprobablyanIberianendemic,a atthebase,whereasthatofM.xavieriisstrongly relictofthefaunaisolatedintheIberianPeninsula angled. duringthePleistocene. Notes. We also identified two additional workers and two males (probably fromasingle Acknowledgements.WearegratefultoCedricA.Colling- nest)ca.65kmSEoftheholotypesite,collected wood for providing us with material, and Kari Vepsä- by Cedric A. Collingwood in Spain (Aragón, läinen,BernhardSeifert,andJudithWardlawformaking usefulcommentsonthemanuscript.Thisworkwassup- Province of Teruel, Sierra de Javalambre, Java- portedbythegrantoftheMinistryofHighEducationand lambre, 1,500–1,800 m a.s.l. (inferred from SciencesofPoland(No.2P04C06429)toAR,andthe maps),June1986,seriesE-178inthecollection AcademyofFinlandtoRS. ofG.W.Elmes)asM.xavieri.Themalesarein- distinguishablefromthosedescribedabove.The workersaresimilar,butexhibitminordifferences intheshapeofpetioleandbyoneworkerhavinga References smoother, the other a coarser sculpture than the workersdescribedabove,andbydistinctlymore Radchenko,A.G.1994a:Taxonomicstructureofthege- extended frontal lobes (FLI 1.35–1.36). In the nusMyrmica(Hymenoptera,Formicidae)ofEurasia. discriminant analysis (above) the two workers CommunicationI.—ZoologicheskiyZhurnal73:39– 51 [in Russian; English translation Entomol. Rev. fellwithintheM.xaviericluster,indicatinglarger 1995,74:91–106]. morphological variation of M. xavieri than ob- Radchenko,A.G.1994b:Surveyofthelobicornisgroup servedinthetwotypeseries.Topreventpossible ofthegenusMyrmica(Hymenoptera,Formicidae)of confusioninthefuture,wedidnotincludethese the Central and Eastern Palaearctic. — Zoologi- specimensinthetypeseries. cheskiyZhurnal73:81–92[inRussian;Englishtrans- WeplaceM.xavieriinthelobicornisspecies lation,Entomol.Rev.1995,74:133–146]. group,becausemanyofthefeaturesofboththe Seifert,B.2005:RankelevationintwoEuropeanantspe- cies: Myrmica lobulicornis Nylander, 1857, stat. n. femaleandmalecastesbestmatchthoseofthat andMyrmicaspinosiorSantschi,1931,stat.n.(Hyme- groupcomparedtoanyotherspeciesgroup.The noptera: Formicidae). — Myrmecologische Nach- absence of a notched clypeal margin in both richten7:1–7.

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