Temnothorax flavicornis

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Temnothorax flavicornis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Temnothorax
Species group: palearctic
Species complex: flavicornis
Species: T. flavicornis
Binomial name
Temnothorax flavicornis
(Emery, 1870)

Temnothorax flavicornis P casent0281556.jpg

Temnothorax flavicornis D casent0281556.jpg

Specimen Label

This species is associated with various arboreal habitats (Salata & Borowiec, 2019).

Identification

Prebus (2017) - A member of the Palearctic clade.

Csösz et al. (2015) - Workers of T. flavicornis might be confused with other long-spined species, i.e., Temnothorax laconicus, Temnothorax lichtensteini and Temnothorax parvulus, but the coarse rugulose or rugulo-reticulate main sculpture on the head dorsum combined with a shiny ground sculpture help to distinguish T. flavicornis from related species by simple visual inspection. In case specimens are covered by dust, a simple ratio (SPBA/CWb) provides perfect separation of T. flavicornis and similar species (T. laconicus, lichtensteini and parvulus) at the level of nest sample means. Additional morphometric data of nest sample means for T. flavicornis and related species provide further opportunities for safe separation.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

This species is widely distributed in the Balkans and Italy.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 46.2823° to 35.23333°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy (type locality), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

This species is a host for the ant Temnothorax muellerianus (a slave maker) (Buschinger et al., 1988) (rare host).

Castes

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • flavicornis. Leptothorax flavicornis Emery, 1870: 197 (w.q.) ITALY.
    • Emery, 1895b: 69 (m.).
    • Combination in L. (Mychothorax): Forel, 1915d: 26.
    • Combination in Temnothorax: Bolton, 2003: 271.
    • Subspecies of acervorum: Forel, 1874: 84 (in key).
    • Status as species: Emery & Forel, 1879: 458; André, 1883a: 294 (in key); Dalla Torre, 1893: 124; Forel, 1915d: 26 (in key); Emery, 1916b: 182 (in key); Bondroit, 1918: 122; Menozzi, 1921: 28; Müller, 1921: 48; Müller, 1923b: 97; Emery, 1924d: 258; Menozzi, 1925d: 29; Bernard, 1956a: 161; Bernard, 1967: 201 (redescription); Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 108; Kutter, 1977c: 131; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 273 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 238; Csösz, Heinze & Mikó, 2015: 28 (redescription).

Type Material

Csösz et al. (2015) - Lectotype worker: “Leptothorax flavicornis Em.”, “Portrei” Lectotype Leptothorax flavicornis Emery, 1870 “Top specimen”, det. A. Schulz & M. Verhaagh 1999 (CASENT0904761) (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa).

Taxonomic Notes

Salata & Borowiec (2019): Results presented by Prebus (2017) revealed that the nylanderi species group, as defined by Csősz et al. 2015, is paraphyletic and the position of Temnothorax flavicornis within it is unlikely. Therefore, we decided to exclude this species from this group and consider it as the single representative of the flavicornis species group.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Csösz et al. (2015) - Body color: yellow. Body color pattern: head, mesosoma, antenna and legs excluding femora, waist and anterior region of 1st gastral tergite lighter than femora and posterior region of gaster. Antenna color pattern: clava concolorous funicle. Absolute cephalic size: 465–516 μm (mean = 496, n = 12). Cephalic length vs. Maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.226–1.299 (mean = 1.266). Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.370–0.394 (mean = 0.384). Postocular sides of cranium contour frontal view orientation: parallel. Postocular sides of cranium contour frontal view shape: straight. Vertex contour line in frontal view shape: straight. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture homogenously forked costate, ground sculpture areolate. Genae contour from anterior view orientation: converging. Gena contour line in frontal view shape: feebly convex. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with areolate ground sculpture; rugoso-reticulate with feeble areolate ground sculpture. Median region of antennal rim vs. frontal carina in frontal view structure: not fully overlapped by frontal carina. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen count: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.244–0.271 (mean = 0.262). Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.351–0.373 (mean = 0.364). Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons count: present. Longitudinal carinae on medial region of frons shape: forked. Smooth median region on frons count: absent. Antennomere count: 11. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.784–0.817 (mean = 0.803). Facial area of the scape absolute setal angle: 0–15°. External area of the scape absolute setal angle: 30°. Ground sculpture of submedian area of clypeus: smooth. Median carina of clypeus count: present. Lateral carinae of clypeus count: present. Median anatomical line of propodeal spine angle value to Weber length in lateral view: 40–45°. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.303–0.420 (mean = 0.358). Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.322–0.358 (mean = 0.338). Maximum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPWI/CS): 0.402–0.506 (mean = 0.458). Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.373–0.482 (mean = 0.432). Maximum mesosoma width vs. absolute cephalic size (MW/CS): 0.622–0.653 (mean = 0.637). Metanotal depression count: present. Metanotal depression shape: shallow. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: rugulose with areolate ground sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture forked costate. Mesopleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Frontal profile of petiolar node contour line in lateral view shape: concave. Dorsal profile of petiolar node contour line angle value to frontal profile of petiole contour line in lateral view: 105–115°. Anterodorsal rim of petiole count: absent medially. Dorsal profile of petiolar node contour line in lateral view shape: concave. Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture dispersed rugose. Dorso-caudal petiolar profile contour line in lateral view shape: straight; concave. Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture dispersed rugose.

Karyotype

  • n = 11 (Italy) (Fischer, 1987) (as Leptothorax flavicornis).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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