Three new exotic species of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) for Madeira, with comments on its myrmecofauna

Abstract

Three new exotic species of ants are recorded for the Macaronesian island of Madeira: Cardiocondyla obscurior Wheeler, 1929, Lepisiota capensis (Mayr, 1862) and Pheidole navigans Forel, 1901. The well-known invasive Pheidole megacephala is now rare on Madeira, possibly because of competition with P. navigans. We did not come across the Argentine ant – Linepithema humile, which was once very common in the Funchal area. Despite extensive searching, the presumed endemic Temnothorax wollastoni (Donisthorpe, 1940) remains unknown other than from the type material. Presence, abundance and extinction of invasive and exotic ants are dynamic processes and we stress the importance of continuous sampling.

New and Additional Records for the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Morocco

“…In their revision of the Temnothorax angustulus group, to which this species belongs, Galkowski & Cagniant (2017) state that T. convexus has not been collected again either in Morocco or in Algeria since the description of it and of its junior synonym. Recently, the species has been reported in southern Iberia in Gibraltar, and in the Spanish province of Cadiz (Guillem & Bensusan, 2019). Our findings confirm that it also inhabits the Rif area in Morocco.…”

“…The species was omitted in the latest list of Moroccan ants (Cagniant, 2006), which had only mentioned Technomyrmex sp 1 (not determined with certainty) located in Tetouan (north Morocco) and Ceuta (Spain). In Europe, it was recorded twice; in Gibraltar (Guillem & Bensusan, 2008) and in Spain (Guillem & Bensusan, 2019). It is also newly recorded from Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula (Sharaf et al, 2018).…”

“…In Morocco, these maquis have recently been reforested with Pinus halepensis Mill., 1768. Nests have been found in dead branches of P. lentiscus, in the ground, and on trees in Europe (Guillem & Bensusan, 2008;Guillem & Bensusan, 2019). In Morocco, all the colonies were found under stones.…”