Lasius (Cautolasius) myops (Fabricius 1782)

Schifani, Enrico, Csősz, SÁndor, Viviano, Roberto & Alicata, Antonio, 2021, Ant diversity on the largest Mediterranean islands: on the presence or absence of 28 species in Sicily (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Natural History Sciences 8 (1), pp. 55-70 : 57

2. Lasius (Cautolasius) myops (Fabricius 1782)

In the past, Lasius myops was often considered a subspecies or even a synonym of L. flavus (Fabricius 1782) until Seifert (1983) gave strong evidences to keep them as separate species. Emery (1916) reported it from Sicily without further details, and no following author provided any evidence of its presence. However, it was recently found in the nearby Aeolian Islands and Southern Calabria (Schär et al., 2020). We confirm its presence at least from E Sicily.

Examined material ( Fig. 2 e-f)

Catania province: Galvarina (Etna), 1800 m asl, 08.07.1992, A. Alicata legit, AAC; Bosco Chiuso (Etna), 25.07.1992, A. Alicata legit; Passo Zingaro (Etna), 08.08.1992, A. Alicata legit, AAC; Pineta di Linguaglossa (Etna), 1475 m asl, 8.10.1992, A. Alicata legit, AAC; Monte Rosso (Etna), 1755 m asl, 10.10.1992, A. Alicata legit, AAC; Monte La Guardia (Etna), 750 m asl, 18.10.1992, A. Alicata legit,, AAC; Contrada Cerrita (Etna), 1300 m asl, 17.7.1993, A. Alicata legit, AAC; Bosco Maletto (Etna), A. Alicata legit, AAC; Monte Ruvolo (Etna), A. Alicata legit, AAC.

Messina province : Torrente Cataolo, Santa Lucia del Mela, 38.124747, 15.328967, 350 m, 09.02.1996, A. Alicata legit, AAC; Piano Daini (Nebrodi), 02.06.2001, A. Alicata legit, AAC .

Figures

Fig. 2 - a-d) Camponotus ruber. a-b) major worker / operaia maggiore; c-d) minor worker / operaia minore. Monte Pellegrino. Scale bar / scala grafica: 1 mm (ESC). e-f) Lasius myops. Worker / operaia. Pineta di Linguaglossa.Scale bar / scala grafica: 0.5 mm (AAC). g-h) Lasius platythorax. Worker / operaia. Monte Cofano. Scale bar / scala grafica: 0.5 mm (AAC).