Plagiolepis schmitzii Forel 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

4. Plagiolepis schmitzii Forel 1895

Taxonomic confusion has made the interpretation of the true identity of this taxon difficult for a long time. Recently, Salata et al. (2018) recognized a similar Eastern Mediterranean species, and, finally, Seifert (2020b) provided a comprehensive revision of the Euro-Mediterranean P. schmitzii complex, which includes three W Mediterranean taxa. Records of P. schmitzii from Sicily were published by La Pergola et al. (2008) and Degueldre et al. (2021). We confirm that the specimens sequenced by Degueldre et al. (2021) morphologically correspond to P. schmitzii and not to any similar species considered by Seifert (2020b). The so-called P. schmitzii complex is apparently polyphyletic and Sicilian specimens belong to the same genetic clade as those from Tenerife (Canary Islands), which morphologically key out as P. schmitzii (Seifert, 2020b) . In Sicily, the genus Plagiolepis is represented by the social parasites P. grassei Le Masne 1956 and P. xene Stärcke 1936 , the free-living P. pygmaea (Latreille 1798) (by far the commonest Plagiolepis and one of the commonest Sicilian ants), P. pallescens Forel 1889 , and P. schmitzii (Schär et al., 2020; Degueldre et al., 2021). However, the P. pallescens complex seems to contain several still undetected species, and a revision is needed to properly identify the Sicilian population (Seifert, 2018; Degueldre et al., 2021). The numerous undetermined specimens in our collection still awaiting identification could shed light on the distribution of P. schmitzii in Sicily.

Examined material ( Fig. 3 a-c)

Palermo province : Mondello, 38.183284, 13.325399, 17.04.2017, 15 m, Citrus orchard, E. Schifani 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.