Lasius mauretanicus, Seifert, 2020

Seifert, Bernhard, 2020, A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic members of the subgenus Lasius s. str. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Soil Organisms 92 (1), pp. 15-86 : 68

4.4.35 Lasius mauretanicus sp. nov.

Etymology. The name refers to ” Mauritania “, the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb in which the new species is found.

Type material. Holotype and 5 paratype workers on two pins labelled ” SPA: 28.795°N, 17.803°W La Palma: Los Sauces - 5 km W, Los Tilos, 830 m leg. Seifert 1995.07.15 “; depository SMN Görlitz.

All material examined. A total of 19 samples with 60 workers were subject to NUMOBAT investigation. These originated from Morocco (8 samples) and the Canaric Islands (10). For details see supplementary information SI1.

Geographic range. Morocco and the Canaric Islands, occuring here from sea level up to 2800 m.

Diagnosis ( Tab. 7 , Figs. 67 –68; key):

A sister species of L. grandis . Absolute size medium to large (CS 943 µm). Head and scape length indices large (CL/ CW 900 1.086, SL/CS 900 1.035); postocular distance low (PoOc/ CL 900 0.222); torulo-clypeal distance very large (dClAn 900 5.41); eye size medium (EYE/CS 900 0.242); terminal segment of maxillary palp very long (MP6/CS 900 0.224). Number of mandibular dents large (MaDe 900 8.55). Pubescence on clypeus dense (sqPDCL 900 3.92); frontal pubescence short (PLF 900 27.5). All body parts with very numerous and rather long standing setae (PnHL/CS 900 0.151, GuHL/CS 900 0.123, nGu 900 16.3, nSc 900 21.4, nHT 900 22.5). Coloration: rather homogenously dark brown with the exception of the pale yellowish-brown mandibles, scapes and tibiae.

Biology. At altitudes from sea level to 1600 m it prefers moist and sheltered places such as Quercus , Salix , Castanea and Eucalyptus forests, Erica heather forest, Laurel forest or Pinus stands. At elevations above 1900 m it occurs in open pastures or grassland with spiny xerophytes or shrubs. In cities it occurs in shady gardens with trees. Lasius mauretanicus behaves aggressively during disturbance of the nest. Alates were observed in the town of Agadir / Morocco in mid May.

Comments. Lasius mauretanicus sp. nov. differs from its sister species L. grandis by the longer terminal segment of maxillary palps, larger torulo-clypeal distance, higher clypeal pubescence density and more numerous genal and gular setae. The mean classification error of NC-Ward, NC-part.hclust and NC-part.kmeans is 1.5% in 65 nest samples when all 16 standard NUMOBAT characters were recorded. The classification error by an LDA is 0.6% in 176 worker individuals.

Figures

Figs. 67 and 68: Lasius mauretanicus sp. nov.; holotype