Ponera testacea Emery 1895

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 : 58

5. Ponera testacea Emery 1895

The European Ponera were periodically considered to represent one or two species, until Csősz & Seifert (2003) provided evidence to consider P. coarctata (Latreille 1802) and P. testacea as two distinct species with different ecological requirements (also see Seifert, 2018). The attribution of earlier Sicilian records to either species is problematic. Recently, Schär et al. (2020) recorded P. coarctata , while the old records by Grandi (1935) and Baroni Urbani (1964a) only referred to P. testacea . We confirm the presence of P. testacea , and further records will likely be available after the re-examination of all of the Ponera specimens still under study.

Examined material ( Fig. 3 d-e)

Palermo province : Pizzo di Pietralunga, 37.9128, 13.2205, 405 m asl, 29.10.2017, R. Viviano legit, ESC; Castello del Catalubo, 38.0152, 12.9852, 115 m asl, 23.03.2019, R. Viviano legit, ESC .

Figures

Fig. 3 - a-c) Plagiolepis schmitzii. Workers / operaie. Mondello (ESC). d-e) Ponera testacea. Worker / operaia. Pizzo di Pietralunga (ESC). f-j) Solenopsis orbula. Queens / regine. Messina. A specimen from De Stefani’s collection / esemplare dalla collezione De Stefani (f,h,j) and a recently collected one / ed uno recentemente raccolto (g,i) (ESC). Scale bar / scala grafica: 0.5 mm.