identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
87F385B4C9735E24B09BF4BCDC00A842.text	87F385B4C9735E24B09BF4BCDC00A842.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Plagiolepis atlantis Santschi 1920	<div><p>Plagiolepis atlantis Santschi, 1920</p><p>Plagiolepis maura var. atlantis Santschi, 1920 Three gyne and five worker syntypes were investigated from NHM Basel, labelled " Plagiolepis Type Plagiolepis maura Sants v. Plagiolepis atlantis Santi", “13.”, "Tunisie Dir el Kef Dr. F. Santschi", "mai 1913", “type”, "ANTWEB CASENT0912421".</p><p>Plagiolepis schmitzii crosi Santschi, 1920 [syn. Plagiolepis atlantis] Three type workers were investigated from NHM Basel, labelled " Plagiolepis Plagiolepis crosi . Sants", "Algerie Mascara A-Cros." and "ANTWEB CASENT0912429".</p><p>Plagiolepis pallescens var. kabyla Santschi, 1920 [syn. Plagiolepis atlantis] Three type workers were investigated from NHM Basel, labelled " Plagiolepis maura Sant v. Plagiolepis kabyla Sant type", "Tunisie Ain Draham Santschi 1913", “Type”, "ANTWEB CASENT0912423". The type specimens are pale yellowish and thus paler than usually seen.</p><p>Plagiolepis perperamus Salata et al., 2018 [syn. Plagiolepis atlantis] Three paratypes were investigated from the holotype nest, labelled “LBC-GR00042”, "GREECE NW Crete | 3 km S Askifou 800 m a.s.l.| 35°16'N/24°10'E | 1 V 2007. L.&amp; M.L. Borowiec"; depository DBU Wroclaw.</p><p>Material examined.</p><p>A total of 20 samples with 56 workers were subject to morphometric investigation.</p><p>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.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">Col de Temet</a>, 1986.04.06, samples <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">No</a> 12518-12522 [35.596°N, 0.050°E, 1600 m alt.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">Dshebel Chelia</a>, 1986.04.06, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">No</a> 12509 [35.32°N, 6.66°E, 2100 m alt.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">Marnia</a>, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">Cap. Boitel</a> (<a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=0.14&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.4" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 0.14/lat 35.4)">Santschi</a>) [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.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=26.192&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=39.323" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 26.192/lat 39.323)">Agios Nikolaos</a> - 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, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-8.37&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=30.889" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -8.37/lat 30.889)">No</a> 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: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=8.7&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=36.17" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 8.7/lat 36.17)">Ain Draham</a>, 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 (<a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=32.86&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=39.93" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 32.86/lat 39.93)">Santschi</a>) [39.93°N, 32.86°E, 890 m alt.] .</p><p>Diagnosis and taxonomy</p><p>(Table 1, key, AntWeb, 2020: pictures of specimen CASENT0912421):</p><p>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 3rd funiculus segment. For the clear separation from these species by exploratory data analyses, see there.</p><p>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 1st 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 Genève, but the curators of both museums Isabelle Zürcher and Bernard Landry confirmed that there has been no loan of any Plagiolepis type specimen by one of the three co-authors.</p><p>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.</p><p>Distribution and biology.</p><p>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.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/87F385B4C9735E24B09BF4BCDC00A842	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Bernhard, Seifert	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.text	6959E7C7FAD159749DCF384A26A905C2.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Plagiolepis barbara Santschi 1911	<div><p>Plagiolepis barbara Santschi, 1911</p><p>Plagiolepis pygmaea var. barbara Santschi, 1911 Two type workers were investigated from NHM Basel, labelled "Kairouan Tunisie Santschi. 1903", " Plagiolepis barbara type Sant", "v. Plagiolepis barbara type Sant", "ANTWEB CASENT0912428 top specimen".</p><p>Plagiolepis maura Santschi, 1920 [syn. Plagiolepis barbara] The collection data published by Santschi are "Maroc: Mogador (Vaucher), avril 1905, types w, m,g. Tanger (Vaucher), Rabat (Thery)". One type worker was morphometrically investigated from NHM Basel, labelled "4.905 Mogador Vaucher", " Plagiolepis maura type Sants", "ANTWEB CASENT0912424". This specimen belongs to the true type series as Santschi published only the Mogador specimens as types. Furthermore, no specimens in the Santschi collection from Tanger and Rabat are labelled as Pl. maura or as types.</p><p>Material examined.</p><p>A total of three samples with seven workers were subject to morphometric investigation.</p><p>Morocco: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-9.76&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=31.508" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -9.76/lat 31.508)">Mogador</a>, 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.] .</p><p>Diagnosis and taxonomy</p><p>(Table 1, key, AntWeb, 2020: pictures of specimens CASENT0912424 and CASENT0912428):</p><p>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 3rd 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.</p><p>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, F1,61 149.0, p &lt;&lt; 0.001):</p><p>Pl. atlantis -0.295 ± 0.532 [-1.337, 0.758] n = 56</p><p>Pl. barbara 2.363 ± 0.638 [1.564, 3.311] n = 7</p><p>Distribution and biology.</p><p>Distributed in west Mediterranean Africa. Biology unknown.</p><p>Excursus: The tramp-species-supercolony syndrome in Plagiolepis</p><p>Plagiolepis invadens sp. nov. is, together with Pl. schmitzii and Pl. pygmaea, the third Plagiolepis species known from areas north of the Alps to show anthropogenous introduction, supercoloniality and permanent outdoor nesting throughout the year. The situation in Pl. schmitzii is commented in the species chapter above and is not entirely new, but the case of Pl. pygmaea with an apparently new dynamics towards supercoloniality in introduction areas needs commentary. According to samples sent to me during last the three decades and deposited in SMN Görlitz, Pl. pygmaea has been anthropogenously introduced to settlements and inner urban areas - most of these are situated far north of its natural range. The first year of observation and localities are 1993 in Mainz-Hechtsheim (49.97°N, 8.27°E), 2007 in Berlin-Köpenick (52.49°N, 13.57°E), 2011 in Hanhofen (49.31°N, 8.34°E), 2019 in Haßloch (49.37°N, 8.24°E), 2019 in Zurich (47.39°N, 8.49°E) and 2020 in Lützelsachsen (49.52°N, 8.66°E). In three cases, introduction with plant material was apparent and, in the last two localities (Zurich and Lützelsachsen), the formation of supercolonies was observed.</p><p>Are there general traits or pre-adaptations in Plagiolepis ants for a career as a tramp species, for eventual transformation to supercoloniality and for developing a competitive advantage - traits that might also explain the sudden emergence of Pl. invadens sp. nov. as if from nowhere? There are four Plagiolepis species with known mating scenarios and colony demography: the Palaearctic Pl. pygmaea, Pl. cf. taurica and Pl. schmitzii, studied by Thurin et al. (2011) and Pl. alluaudi Emery, 1894 from the tropics of the old world observed by Buschinger (2012) in greenhouses of the Darmstadt Botanical Garden. All four species share characters facilitating anthropogenous introduction and transition to supercoloniality: (a) very small size, (b) wide food spectrum, (c) strong tendency for intranidal mating and (d) high degree of polygyny. A single medium-sized flower pot allows long-term survival and reproduction of these tiny ants and, placed at the right spot, it may serve as a beach head for supercolony formation by nest splitting.</p><p>Another factor is probably also important for the success of Plagiolepis ants. At least for Pl. taurica, we have direct observations that an unidentified secretion emitted from the gaster tip is extremely toxic and repellent to other ant species (Seifert 2018) and which may explain that it is tolerated within the territories of dominant ants. Pl. taurica may share a bait or trophobiont colony with so-called dominant ants or even displace these. These observations are repeated in other species: Pl. pygmaea was the only ant species allowed to co-exist and move freely within the territory of a Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) supercolonies in France and Spain (Charrier et al. 2020) and Pl. alluaudi was observed in the Bermudas (Smith 1957), New Caledonia (Le Breton 2003) and the Great Barrier Reef islands (Burwell et al. 2012) to show, in contrast to other ants, no population decrease in the presence of dominant supercolonial Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius, 1793).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6959E7C7FAD159749DCF384A26A905C2	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Bernhard, Seifert	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.text	E36006BBA46F5A51A4A5D21AFB3660CA.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Plagiolepis invadens Bernhard 2020	<div><p>Plagiolepis invadens sp. nov.</p><p>Etymology.</p><p>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.</p><p>Type material.</p><p>Holotype plus one paratype worker on the same pin labelled "GER: 49.65703°N, 8.41775°E Hofheim, 92 m, supercolony in garden, known since about 4 years, leg. Heller 2019.08" and "Holotype (top) and paratype of Plagiolepis invadens Seifert"; three paratype workers from the same collecting data; five paratype workers labelled "GER: 49.65703°N, 8.41775°E Hofheim, 92 m, supercolony in garden, known since about 5 years, leg. Heller 2020.06"; all material is stored in SMN Görlitz .</p><p>Diagnosis and taxonomy</p><p>(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 4th funiculus segment not being much longer than the 3rd (F4/F3 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 3rd funiculus segment: primary ratios of F3/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 1st principal component:</p><p>Pl. invadens sp. nov. -1.946 ± 0.343 [-2.477, -1.368] n = 10</p><p>Pl. atlantis 0.348 ± 0.592 [-1.020, 1.338] n = 56.</p><p>This clear result (ANOVA, F1,64 = 140.4, p &lt;0.001), achieved without character selection, is a reasonable indication of heterospecificity. A vector considering the 1st and 3rd principal component with 1.893*PC1 + 0.563*PC3 provides an even stronger separation (ANOVA, F1,64 = 189.6, p &lt;&lt; 0.001):</p><p>Pl. invadens sp. nov. -4.010 ± 0.649 [-4.962, -2.932] n = 10</p><p>Pl. atlantis 0.716 ± 1.046 [-1.597, 2.681] n = 56.</p><p>Further descriptive statements.</p><p>Head moderately elongated (CL/CW 1.105). Scape shorter than in related species (SL/CS 0.923). Eye medium-sized (EL/CS 0.258). Mesosoma width smaller than in related species (MW/CS 0.615). Cuticular surface of head, mesosoma, coxae and femora brilliantly shining and with a dilute appressed to decumbent pubescence. Scape and tibiae with a more dense decumbent pubescence. Head, scape, femora and mesosoma varying from dark brown with yellowish tinge to almost black. Antennal funiculus, coxae, tibiae and sometimes pronotum pale yellowish-brown.</p><p>Biology.</p><p>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.</p><p>Comments.</p><p>There is certainly some risk describing a new species based upon a single colony. Yet, this risk is calculable and apparently low. Firstly, the separation in the PCA is very strong and the next similar species Pl. atlantis was available for this PCA in a large sample. Secondly, the reported diagnostic characters, which are homogenously distributed over the colony in space and time, are unlikely to represent a spontaneous mutant. This would require a single founding queen which was homozygous for at least one allele, both determining length of scape and funiculus segments and slenderness of the mesosoma and it would require propagation of this mutant over millions of individuals in the supercolony. Thirdly, considering the Palaearctic region, 10 taxa of the Pl. schmitzii group (reported here) and 14 taxa of the Pl. pallescens and Pl. pygmaea group have been checked and excluded as senior synonyms (Kirschner et al. in prep.). There is only one taxon which seems to pose some risk: Plagiolepis barbara var. pyrenaica Emery, 1921, collected in the Eastern Pyrenees. Assessing a photo of a type specimen (AntWeb 2020), it seems to have a gastral pubescence density approaching the situation in the Pl. schmitzii group, but further conclusions are impossible. A direct investigation of type specimen(s), which should exist in MCSN Genoa, is currently not possible due to long-term effects caused by the COVID19 pandemic. Fourthly, scrutinising the photos of type specimens of 44 Plagiolepis taxa from remote zoogeographic regions (AntWeb 2020), there is no apparent candidate taxon for senior synonymy. All these taxa differ clearly. Arranged in alphabetic order of species-level taxon names, their unique specimen identifiers were CASENT0909850, CASENT0132814, CASENT0917582, CASENT0909845, CASENT0217200, CASENT0281160, CASENT0909846, CASENT0909847, CASENT0917579, CASENT0915713, CASENT0903144, CASENT0917578, CASENT0906247, CASENT0912417, CASENT0281161, CASENT0909848, CASENT0917484, CASENT0101305, CASENT0903146, CASENT0916654, CASENT0912418, CASENT0235986, CASENT0913616, CASENT0905142, CASENT0905143, CASENT0909852, CASENT0909861, CASENT0906471, CASENT0912419, CASENT0217737, CASENT0101224, CASENT0909853, CASENT0909854, CASENT0912411, GBIF-D/FoCol 2225, CASENT0787965, CASENT0903145, CASENT0906251, CASENT0905141, CASENT0217738, CASENT0909863, CASENT0912412, CASENT0909864 and CASENT0917485.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E36006BBA46F5A51A4A5D21AFB3660CA	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Bernhard, Seifert	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.text	619D30D6A08B5E73A9DF1F234D1CAC13.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Plagiolepis schmitzii Forel 1895	<div><p>Plagiolepis schmitzii Forel, 1895</p><p>Plagiolepis pygmaea var. schmitzii Forel, 1895 Published type locality: "Serra d’Agua, Madeira (Seminardirektor P. E. Schmitz)" [32.727°N, 17.027°W, 347 m alt.]. Nine paratype workers were investigated from MHN Genève collected by Schmitz in at least three localities in Madeira. Amongst these were workers pictured in AntWeb (2020), labelled " Pl. pygmaea Latr. v. Plagiolepis schmitzii For. Garajau Madeira Schmitz 3, 5-9", "ANTWEB CASENT0909859". All investigated specimens do not carry a label pointing to Serra d’Agua . I also investigated the lectotype gyne labelled " Pl. pygmaea Latr. v. Plagiolepis schmitzii For. Madeira (Schmitz)", "ANTWEB CASENT0909858", "LECTOTYPE (upper) Plagiolepis pygmaea var. schmitzi Forel, 1895 desig. Wetterer &amp; Espadaler".</p><p>Plagiolepis barbara canariensis Plagiolepis barbara var. canariensis Santschi, 1920 [syn. Plagiolepis schmitzii] Described from Tenerife: La Laguna, Bejano and Esperanze. No type specimens or figures of this taxon were available and the descriptive statements of Santschi are useless. A junior synonymy with Pl. schmitzii appears probable for zoogeographic reasons.</p><p>Plagiolepis barbara madeirensis Plagiolepis barbara var. madeirensis Emery, 1921 [syn. Plagiolepis schmitzii] Identification by evaluation of photos of a type worker in AntWeb (2020) labelled " Pl. barbara var. Plagiolepis barbara madeirensis Em.", "SYNTYPUS Plagiolepis barbara var. Plagiolepis barbara madeirensis Emery, 1921", "Funchal Madeira De Guerne", "ANTWEB CASENT0905140".</p><p>Plagiolepis maura polygyna Plagiolepis maura polygyna Santschi, 1922 [syn. Plagiolepis schmitzii] Four type workers were investigated from NHM Basel labelled "Tunisie, Cheri Chera 27 III 21 Santschi".</p><p>Plagiolepis schmitzii tingitana Plagiolepis schmitzii var. tingitana Santschi, 1936 [syn. Plagiolepis schmitzii] Santschi published as collecting sites "Tanger w. (type) et Volubilis w. (Alluaud)". Four type workers were investigated from NHM Basel labelled "Tanger Ch. Alluaud".</p><p>Material examined.</p><p>A total of 21 samples with 64 workers were subject to morphometric investigation.</p><p>Algeria: Mascara, 1926 [35.398°N, 0.138°E, 594 m alt.] . England: Isle of Wight: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-1.19&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=50.59" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -1.19/lat 50.59)">Bonchurch</a>, 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.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=8.975&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=50.045" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 8.975/lat 50.045)">Seligenstadt</a>, 2009.04 [50.045°N, 8.975°E, 115 m alt.] . Morocco: Chefchaouen, 2009.03 [35.183°N, 5.300°W, 400 m alt.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-8.37&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=30.889" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -8.37/lat 30.889)">Meknes</a>, 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.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=5.12&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=52.09" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 5.12/lat 52.09)">Tholen</a>, 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: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-16.87&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=32.65" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -16.87/lat 32.65)">Estreito da Calheta</a>, 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.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-5.994&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=37.394" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -5.994/lat 37.394)">Tenerife</a>: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-5.994&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=37.394" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -5.994/lat 37.394)">Las Canadas</a> NP, 1999.06.02 [28.26°N, 16.61°W, 2300 m alt.]; <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-5.994&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=37.394" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -5.994/lat 37.394)">Sevilla</a>, 2019.06.24 [37.394°N, 5.994°W, 10 m alt.] . Tunisia: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=9.815&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=35.637" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 9.815/lat 35.637)">Cherichara</a>, 1921.03.27, types Pl. polygyna [35.637°N, 9.815°E, 255 m alt.] .</p><p>Diagnosis and taxonomy</p><p>(Table 1, key, AntWeb, 2020: CASENT0906252, Figs 2 - 4):</p><p>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 CASENT0905140 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 .</p><p>Distribution and biology.</p><p>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.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/619D30D6A08B5E73A9DF1F234D1CAC13	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Bernhard, Seifert	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
