taxonID	type	description	language	source
87F385B4C9735E24B09BF4BCDC00A842.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. A total of 20 samples with 56 workers were subject to morphometric investigation. Algeria: Azeffoun, 1986.04.13 [36.89 ° N, 4.41 ° E, 5 m alt.]; Chrea, 1965.05.14 [36.47 ° N, 2.91 ° E, 900 m alt.]; Col de Temet, 1986.04.06, samples No 12518 - 12522 [35.596 ° N, 0.050 ° E, 1600 m alt.]; Dshebel Chelia, 1986.04.06, No 12509 [35.32 ° N, 6.66 ° E, 2100 m alt.]; Marnia, Cap. Boitel (Santschi) [34.85 ° N, 1.73 ° W, 410 m alt.]; Mascara, 1920, type of Pl. crosi [35.40 ° N, 0.14 ° E, 603 m alt.]. Greece: Agios Mamas, salines, 2009.09.04 [40.217 ° N, 23.333 ° E, 4 m alt.]; Agios Nikolaos - 3 km E, 2010.04.19 [38.894 ° N, 21.889 ° E, 1112 m alt.]; Askifou- 3 km S, 2007.05.01, type Pl. perperamus [35.267 ° N, 24.176 ° E, 800 m alt.]; Kassandra, Sividri, 2009.08.25 [40.033 ° N, 23.350 ° E, 6 m alt.]; Lesbos: Petri, 2012.05.23 [39.323 ° N, 26.192 ° E, 158 m alt.]. Morocco: Sidi Smail- 8 km N, 1987.05.04, No 12991 [32.873 ° N, 8.876 ° W, 137 m alt.]; Tiz-n-Test- 8 km N, 1987.05.05 [30.889 ° N, 8.370 ° W, 1810 m alt.]. Tunisia: Ain Draham, 1913, type Pl. kabyla [36.779 ° N, 8.687 ° E, 764 m alt.]; Dir el Kef, 1913.05, type Pl. atlantis [36.17 ° N, 8.70 ° E, 594 m alt.]. Turkey: Ankara (Santschi) [39.93 ° N, 32.86 ° E, 890 m alt.].	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
87F385B4C9735E24B09BF4BCDC00A842.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis and taxonomy (Table 1, key, AntWeb, 2020: pictures of specimen CASENT 0912421): The clear separation from Pl. schmitzii by exploratory and hypothesis-driven data analyses has been demonstrated above. As Santschi described the synonyms Pl. atlantis, Pl. crosi and Pl. kabyla within the same paper (Santschi 1920), the priority of Pl. atlantis was fixed by the reviser's decision. Pl. atlantis differs from Pl. barbara by having smaller eyes and larger preocular and postocular distance and from Pl. invadens sp. nov. by a much longer 3 rd funiculus segment. For the clear separation from these species by exploratory data analyses, see there. It is my duty here to comment on the paper of Salata et al. (2018). These authors introduced a new species Pl. perperamus and made attempts to suggest its heterospecificity from Pl. schmitzii. Regarding the morphological separation of the two entities, they wrote nothing but two sentences: " ... their separation using morphological characters such as size, body colouration and gaster setosity is very challenging (Table 1). In most cases both species differ in length of gaster setosity. In P. perperamus setae are long enough to cover at least 1 / 2 of the length of following setae and in P. schmitzii they cover approximately 1 / 4 of the length of the following setae ". Firstly, I agree with Salata et al. (2018) that the separation is challenging. Data of absolute measurements and body ratios given in their table 1 show, indeed, a huge interspecific overlap for any presented character, making a reader believe that these characters could be useless for species separation. Secondly, the authors are not familiar with the accepted terminology of ant morphology. What they have called " setosity " and " setae " truly refer to pubescence which dramatically differs in size, spatial arrangement and microstructure of the hairs from those structures consistently named by dead and living ant taxonomist as true setae or pilosity. Thirdly, if only the length of gastral pubescence hairs were believed to be a rather good separating character, why did Salata et al. not present concrete data in their table 1? Having measured these data carefully and in a larger sample, they would have become aware that a weak difference of mean values is invalidated in its taxonomic significance by a huge overlap range. According to investigations presented here, absolute length of pubescence hairs on dorsum of 1 st gaster tergite (PLG) in micron as the mean of seven measurements per individual and over the whole geographic range is 30.6 + / - 2.0 [26.5, 35.4] in 64 workers of Pl. schmitzii and 32.8 + / - 2.3 [28.0, 38.1] in 56 workers of Pl. atlantis (= Pl. perperamus). Fourthly, the full absence in the text of concrete verbal or numeric data on characters of type specimens of taxa of the Pl. schmitzii group in the paper of Salata et al. (2018) indicates that there was no thorough direct investigation of type specimens. There was putatively a subjective eye inspection by Sebastian Salata during his visits of NHM Basel and MHN Geneve, but the curators of both museums Isabelle Zuercher and Bernard Landry confirmed that there has been no loan of any Plagiolepis type specimen by one of the three co-authors. In the absence of a conclusive morphological argumentation, Salata et al. (2018) used a survey of Mediterranean climate variables, showing that precipitation in the coldest quarter of the year significantly differs between the East and West Mediterranean zone. The conclusion of Salata et al. (2018) from this was that, amongst those Mediterranean Plagiolepis ants with dense pubescence on gaster tergites, there were two different allopatric or parapatric species, because " climate niches " in the east and west of the area differed. The applied taxonomic working philosophy reads as follows: if we cannot show a morphological difference in a sample of animals distributed over a certain geographic area, it is sufficient to demonstrate a significant difference of regional meteorological data to subdivide this sample into different species and that describing a new species can be done without a thorough direct investigation of type specimens of some 12 candidate taxa for senior synonymy.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
87F385B4C9735E24B09BF4BCDC00A842.taxon	distribution	Distribution and biology. Pl. atlantis has obviously a more eastern distribution than Pl. schmitzii, but the ranges of both species overlap in North Africa over at least 1800 km (9 ° W to 10 ° E). Pl. atlantis is so far not known to occur as a tramp species in sub-Mediterranean or temperate Europe - neither outdoors nor in houses. Occurrence east of Turkey seems credible, but needs confirmation by reliably-determined voucher specimens. Salata et al. (2018) reported it to nest in soil, usually below stones and to be associated with humid areas overgrown by macchia or forests. Colonies are polygynous.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
6959E7C7FAD159749DCF384A26A905C2.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. A total of three samples with seven workers were subject to morphometric investigation. Morocco: Mogador, 1905.04 (Vaucher), type Pl. maura [31.508 ° N, 9.76 ° W, 4 m alt.]. Tunisia: Kairouan, 1903, type Pl. barbara [35.671 ° N, 10.099 ° E, 67 m alt.]; Kairouan, 1920.03.07 [35.671 ° N, 10.099 ° E, 67 m alt.].	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
6959E7C7FAD159749DCF384A26A905C2.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis and taxonomy (Table 1, key, AntWeb, 2020: pictures of specimens CASENT 0912424 and CASENT 0912428): Pl. barbara differs from Pl. schmitzii by a much shorter scape and a shorter postocular distance, from Pl. atlantis by larger eye and from Pl. invadens sp. nov. by larger eye and much longer 3 rd funiculus segment. The most similar species is Pl. atlantis and it may be asked if there is a risk of synonymy, considering the small sample size in Pl. barbara. This risk is low. Running a PCA with absolute head size and the 16 RAV-corrected shape, pubescence and surface characters, there is a very strong separation of all individuals by the first principal component (ANOVA, F 1,61 149.0, p << 0.001): Pl. atlantis - 0.295 + / - 0.532 [- 1.337, 0.758] n = 56 Pl. barbara 2.363 + / - 0.638 [1.564, 3.311] n = 7	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
6959E7C7FAD159749DCF384A26A905C2.taxon	distribution	Distribution and biology. Distributed in west Mediterranean Africa. Biology unknown.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
E36006BBA46F5A51A4A5D21AFB3660CA.taxon	etymology	Etymology. Meaning " invasive " (from Latin invado) The type colony in SW Germany is an anthropogenous introduction from an unknown origin, shows circannual outdoor nesting, but invaded houses in large numbers during the extremely dry summers of 2018 and 2019.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
E36006BBA46F5A51A4A5D21AFB3660CA.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis and taxonomy (Table 1, key, Figures 6 - 8). With narrowly-spaced basal pits of pubescence hairs (BPdG 15.6 µm), low pubescence distance (sqPDG 2.69) and the 4 th funiculus segment not being much longer than the 3 rd (F 4 / F 3 1.346), Pl. invadens sp. nov. is clearly separable from the species of the Pl. pygmaea and Pl. pallescens group and is characterised as a member of the Pl. schmitzii group. It is outstanding within the latter group by the very short 3 rd funiculus segment: primary ratios of F 3 / CS are 7.37 + / - 0.43 [6.85, 8.04] % in ten workers of Pl. invadens sp. nov., but 9.78 + / - 0.61 [8.59, 11.59] % in 124 specimens of the other three Pl. schmitzii group species. The most similar species is Pl. atlantis and it may be asked if there is a risk of synonymy, considering that the description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. is based on workers from only a single supercolony. Running a PCA, considering absolute head size and the 16 RAV-corrected shape, pubescence and surface characters, resulted in a strong separation of all individuals by the 1 st principal component: Pl. invadens sp. nov. - 1.946 + / - 0.343 [- 2.477, - 1.368] n = 10 Pl. atlantis 0.348 + / - 0.592 [- 1.020, 1.338] n = 56. This clear result (ANOVA, F 1,64 = 140.4, p <0.001), achieved without character selection, is a reasonable indication of heterospecificity. A vector considering the 1 st and 3 rd principal component with 1.893 * PC 1 + 0.563 * PC 3 provides an even stronger separation (ANOVA, F 1,64 = 189.6, p << 0.001): Pl. invadens sp. nov. - 4.010 + / - 0.649 [- 4.962, - 2.932] n = 10 Pl. atlantis 0.716 + / - 1.046 [- 1.597, 2.681] n = 56.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
E36006BBA46F5A51A4A5D21AFB3660CA.taxon	biology_ecology	Biology. Pl. invadens sp. nov. is known so far from only a single supercolony in SW Germany in a settlement with about 30 % greenery and 70 % building or sealed area. Residents became aware of the ants in the gardens in about 2016. Ants were not perceived as plagues inside the houses in the years 2016 and 2017, but masses of workers invaded houses during the extremely dry summers of 2018 and 2019 in such numbers that the residents tried to get rid of the ants by using vacuum cleaners. Gerhard Heller observed in September 2019 and June 2020 the presence of a true supercolony with millions of workers and runways stretching along the roadside of at least two properties. Preferred nest sites were the most humid spots with much greenery where the ants constructed small hills made of soil ejections. The residents also reported that " black ants being clearly bigger " than the Plagiolepis - presumably Lasius niger (Linnaeus, 1758) - vanished after the development of the Pl. invadens sp. nov. supercolony. The species is obviously able to long-time survival under outdoor conditions within the current climatic scenario and will have to be considered as established neozoon in Germany if efforts to eradicate the population fail. Reproductive biology, demography and food ecology of Pl. invadens sp. nov. are not studied so far, but are expected to show the traits described in the concluding chapter of this paper.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
619D30D6A08B5E73A9DF1F234D1CAC13.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. A total of 21 samples with 64 workers were subject to morphometric investigation. Algeria: Mascara, 1926 [35.398 ° N, 0.138 ° E, 594 m alt.]. England: Isle of Wight: Bonchurch, 2007.06.21 [50.59 ° N, 1.19 ° W, 3 m alt.]. Germany: Schkeuditz, 2019.02.11 [51.392 ° N, 12.204 ° E, 104 m alt.]; Schriesheim, 2017.05 [49.470 ° N, 8.46 ° E, 118 m alt.]; Seligenstadt, 2009.04 [50.045 ° N, 8.975 ° E, 115 m alt.]. Morocco: Chefchaouen, 2009.03 [35.183 ° N, 5.300 ° W, 400 m alt.]; Meknes, 1940.02.02 [33.894 ° N, 5.547 ° W, 551 m alt.]; Rabat (Santschi) [33.973 ° N, 6.845 ° W, 84 m alt.]; Tanger (Alluaud), type Pl. schm. tingitana [35.755 ° N, 5.819 ° W, 30 m alt.]; Tiz-n-Test - 8 km N, 1987.05.05, No 13015 [30.889 ° N, 8.370 ° W, 1810 m alt.]. Netherlands: Brakel, 2013.02 [51.820 ° N, 5.093 ° E, 2 m alt.]; Tholen, 2011.05.27 [51.539 ° N, 4.217 ° E, 1 m alt.]; Utrecht, 2006.09.09 [52.09 ° N, 5.12 ° E, 10 m alt.]. Portugal: Madeira: Estreito da Calheta, 2009.03 [32.733 ° N, 17.167 ° W, 350 m alt.]; Madeira, 1400 m (Schmitz), paratypes Pl. schmitzii [33.0 ° N, 17.0 ° W, 1400 m alt.]; Madeira: Garajau (Schmitz), paratypes Pl. schmitzii [32.64 ° N, 16.85 ° W, 230 m]; Madeira: Palheiro (Schmitz), paratypes Pl. schmitzii [32.65 ° N, 16.87 ° W, 360 m alt.]. Spain: La Palma: Todoque, 2010.03.02 [28.617 ° N, 17.903 ° W, 334 m alt.]; Tenerife: Las Canadas NP, 1999.06.02 [28.26 ° N, 16.61 ° W, 2300 m alt.]; Sevilla, 2019.06.24 [37.394 ° N, 5.994 ° W, 10 m alt.]. Tunisia: Cherichara, 1921.03.27, types Pl. polygyna [35.637 ° N, 9.815 ° E, 255 m alt.].	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
619D30D6A08B5E73A9DF1F234D1CAC13.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis and taxonomy (Table 1, key, AntWeb, 2020: CASENT 0906252, Figs 2 - 4): Pl. schmitzii has the longest scape and funiculus segments within the species group. The most similar species is Pl. atlantis, whereas Pl. barbara and Pl. invadens sp. nov. appear more distant and have much shorter scapes (for their status, see there). The material allocated here to Pl. schmitzii (21 samples, 64 specimens) and Pl. atlantis (20 samples, 56 specimens) were investigated by exploratory data analyses (EDAs). Considering absolute head size and all 16 allometrically-corrected shape, pubescence and surface characters, NC-Ward, NC-part. kmeans, NC-NMDS-kmeans, a principal component analysis (PCA) and NC-part. hclust confirmed two clusters. The classification of the first four EDAs agreed for each of the 41 samples, whereas NC-part. hclust exposed two samples as indeterminate outliers (Fig. 5). If these two samples were run as wild-cards in a controlling linear discriminant analysis (LDA), they were classified in agreement with the first four EDAs. The classification error of the LDA on an individual level was 0.7 % in 120 workers. All these data are a clear indication of separate species identity of Pl. schmitzii and Pl. atlantis. Running the type series of seven taxa as wild-cards in the LDA resulted in clear allocations to either cluster. The posterior probabilities for allocation to the Pl. schmitzii cluster were 1.000 in each of the three paratype series of Pl. schmitzii from Madeira, 0.999 in the type series of Pl. polygyna and 1.000 in the type series of Pl. tingitana, whereas the posterior probabilities for allocation to the Pl. atlantis cluster were 1.000 in the type series of Pl. atlantis, 0.916 in the type series of Pl. crosi, 0.994 in the type series of Pl. kabyla and 0.998 in the type series of Pl. perperamus. All five EDAs allocated any type series in agreement with the LDA wild-card runs. As a consequence, Pl. polygyna and Pl. tingitana are junior synonyms of Pl. schmitzii, whereas Pl. crosi, Pl. kabyla and Pl. perperamus are junior synonyms of Pl. atlantis. Without types of Plagiolepis barbara var. madeirensis Emery, 1921 being available, the synonymisation of this taxon with Pl. schmitzii is highly probable for two reasons: (1) the scape is very long: the data of SL and CW, as they can be derived with minimum distortions from the CASENT 0905140 photo of the Pl. b. madeirensis type, are within the Pl. schmitzii cluster and outside the cluster formed by Pl. atlantis, Pl. invadens sp. nov. and Pl. barbara; (2) Madeira seems to be inhabited by only a single, very abundant Plagiolepis species which is to be named Pl. schmitzii.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
619D30D6A08B5E73A9DF1F234D1CAC13.taxon	distribution	Distribution and biology. According to direct investigation of voucher specimens, Pl. schmitzii is distributed from Madeira and the Canaries across West Mediterranean Africa east to Tunisia. There are anthropogenous introductions north of 46 ° N. In Germany, it has been found so far only in houses, with workers occasionally foraging outdoors. However, year-round outdoor nesting has been recently reported from two sites in the Netherlands (Jinze Noordijk pers. comm. 2020). Accordingly, there is a clear potential for becoming an established neozoon in NW and Central Europe in the context of global warming. Polygyny and polydomy with colony territories over several houses is confirmed for populations in the Netherlands and Germany. The population from Madeira, Estreito da Calheta is obligatory polygynous and highly polyandrous (a queen may have up to 14 different mates), whereas the population from Chefchaouen in Morocco is facultatively polygynous and moderately polyandrous (Thurin et al. 2011). These authors stated that relatedness within colonies remains high because of sib-mating and relatedness of the male mates of a queen (fixation index F it = 0.24 in the Madeiran and 0.26 in the Moroccan population). Small size, polygyny with intranidal mating and broad food spectrum are pre-adaptations for a career as a tramp species. Pl. schmitzii is everywhere present in Madeira and rivals there in abundance with Lasius cf. grandis Forel.	en	Bernhard, Seifert (2020): Revision of the Plagiolepis schmitzii group with description of Pl. invadens sp. nov. - a new invasive supercolonial species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 67 (2): 183-196, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/dez.67.53199
