Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions is given with country data, list of synonyms, and comments. From the area 1261 species are rocorded. All infraspecific names, including subspecies names, are treated as synonyms although in future studies many of them can be raised to species level. Table with distribution of ant species in major regions of Europe and the Mediterranean Subregion is presented. From Europe 622 species have been recorded, from North Africa 441, Middle East 256, Turkey and transcaucasian countries 358, Iran 165, and Arabian Peninsula 304.

Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Understanding how different biodiversity components are related across different environmental conditions is a major goal in macroecology and conservation biogeography. We investigated correlations among alpha and beta taxonomic (TD), phylogenetic (PD), and functional diversity (FD) in ant communities in the five biogeographic regions most representative of western Europe; we also examined the degree of niche conservatism. We combined data from 349 ant communities composed of 154 total species, which were characterized by 10 functional traits and by phylogenetic relatedness. We computed TD, PD, and FD using the Rao quadratic entropy index, which allows each biodiversity component to be partitioned into α and β diversity within the same mathematical framework. We ran generalized least squares and multiple matrix regressions with randomization to investigate relationships among the diversity components. We used Pagel's λ test to explore niche conservatism in each biogeographic region. At the alpha scale, TD was consistently, positively related to PD and FD, although the strength and scatter of this relationship changed among the biogeographic regions. Meanwhile, PD and FD consistently matched up across regions. Accordingly, we found similar degrees of niche conservatism across regions. Nonetheless, these alpha-scale relationships had low coefficients of determination. At the beta scale, the three diversity components were highly correlated across all regions (especially TD and FD, as well as PD and FD). Our results imply that the different diversity components, and especially PD and FD, are consistently related across biogeographic regions and analytical scale. However, the alpha-scale relationships were quite weak, suggesting environmental factors might influence the degree of association among diversity components at the alpha level. In conclusion, conservation programs should seek to preserve functional and phylogenetic diversity in addition to species richness, and this approach should be applied universally, regardless of the biogeographic locations of the sites to be protected.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ecog.01938

Relationships among taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic ant diversity across the biogeographic regions of Europe

The assumption that a number of apterous females belonging to the Monomorium salomonis-group are socially parasitic or inquilinous is reviewed and discarded. An hypothesis is presented which postulates that the development of aptery in females of this group is associated with a shift in dispersal strategy in the species involved. Morphological modifications connected with this process are outlined and possible consequences discussed.

Apterous females and shift of dispersal strategy in the Monomorium salomonis-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

A checklist of the ants recorded during five years in a small urban area (400 m2) in Sant Cugat (Barcelona, Spain) is presented. 23 species nest in the area, 7 species (hypogaeic or parasitic) probably nest and 5 species nest in the vicinity; five additional species have also been recovered from the area. The rarity of some of these (Leptanilla sp.,Hypoponera abeillei (Emery),Cryptopone ochraceum (Mayr),Smithistruma tenuipilis (Emery),Epitritus argiolus Emery,Trichoscapa membranifera Emery,Chalepoxenus muellerianus (Finzi),Anergates atratulus (Schenck),Plagiolepis xene (Schenck),Lasius carniolicus Mayr) and the high number of species suggest that a) rarity in Mediterranean ant species may be explained by the insufficient sampling in time of adequate microhabitats (hypogaeic species) or by the inconspicuousness of social parasitic species, and b) that previously published species lists of ants from Mediterranean habitats might be rather incomplete.

Rareness of certain Mediterranean ant species: fact or artifact?

This paper and a companion article present illustrated guides to the identification of sub-fossil chironomid larvae (Insecta: Diptera: Chironomidae) preserved in the sediments of low- and mid-elevation lakes in East Africa. They are based on analysis of surface-sediment death assemblages from 61 lakes located in the humid to semi-arid environments in equatorial East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania), supplemented with similar surface-sediment samples from 12 lakes in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia), and sub-recent core samples from six lakes in Kenya and two in Uganda. We analyzed about 11,000 specimens and identified 98.4% of these to species, species group, genus, or tribe level, depending on current α-taxonomic knowledge of the various considered genera and the taxonomic resolution of preserved diagnostic features. We distinguished 90 different sub-fossil morphotypes, of which 16 are Tanypodinae, 19 are Orthocladiinae, and 55 are Chironominae. In this paper we focus on the subfamily Chironominae (tribes Chironomini and Tanytarsini). The diagnostic characters distinguishing these morphotypes from each other resemble differences at the species level in the better-known Holarctic fauna, hence we consider most of our morphotypes equivalent to morphological species or groups of closely related species. Given that core samples yielded only seven morphotypes not also found in the surface-sediment samples, the current inventory of 90 taxa likely represents the large majority of distinct sub-fossil chironomid larval types to be found in East African lakes, excluding the few very large Rift lakes, cold-water lakes above treeline, and special standing-water environments such as fens and bogs. Consistent use of a single set of morphological characters to identify both fossil and living chironomid larvae would ensure exchangeability of information between modem and paleoenvironmental studies on aquatic invertebrate communities in African lakes, and increase the relevance of paleoenvironmental reconstructions to water-quality evaluations aimed at sustainable management of scarce, fluctuating surface-water resources in tropical East Africa.

Sub-fossil Chironomidae from East Africa. 2. Chironominae (Chironomini and Tanytarsini)

/pdf/distribucion-variabilidad-y-sinonimias-en-aphaenogaster-214hgis08d.pdf

Distribucion, variabilidad y sinonimias en Aphaenogaster iberica Emery, 1908 y dos adiciones a la fauna iberica(Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

Descripción de los sexuados de Tapinoma pygmaeum (Dufour, 1857) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

/pdf/epimyrma-bernardi-n-sp-a-new-parasitic-ant-hymenoptera-yb5jrodmok.pdf

Epimyrma bernardi n. sp., a new parasitic ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

/pdf/descripcion-de-goniomma-baeticum-nov-sp-hym-formicidae-cjckeoke0b.pdf

Descripción de Goniomma baeticum nov. sp. (Hym., Formicidae)

The ant Goniomma kugleri n.sp. is described from the Iberian Peninsula. Descriptions are given for workers, females and males. The species is morphologically related to G. blanci (Andre). Some observations are given on the biology of this new species.

http://www.entomology.org.il/sites/default/files/pdfs/IJE-1985-espadaler.pdf

X. Espadaler

Papers

Distribucion, variabilidad y sinonimias en Aphaenogaster iberica Emery, 1908 y dos adiciones a la fauna iberica(Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

Descripción de los sexuados de Tapinoma pygmaeum (Dufour, 1857) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

Epimyrma bernardi n. sp., a new parasitic ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

Descripción de Goniomma baeticum nov. sp. (Hym., Formicidae)

Goniomma kugleri, a new granivorous ant from the Iberian Peninsula (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).