Formica dalmatica Nylander 1849

Investigated were two syntypes on different pins, a major and minor worker, labeled ‘Lagusta \ Zeller \ Coll.Nyldr \ Lagosta [handwritten]\ H:fors Spec. typ. No 50** Formica dalmatica Nyl’, FMNH Helsinki. **The syntypes have identical labels except for ‘Spec. typ. No’ which are ‘5089’ and ‘5090’ respectively. The syntypes represent typical specimens in shape, structure and pigmentation. Running them as wild-cards in a 5-class LDA, they were allocated with a mean posterior probability of p = 0.9996 to the 24 nest samples classified here as C. dalmaticus, whereas all other four species with completely blackish vertex and low RipD presented in Tab. 3 were clearly excluded (for Camponotus ebneri see there).

All material examined. A total of 25 nest samples with 68 workers were subject to NUMOBAT investigation.

BOSNIA: Klek, 2013.05.24, No 27 [42.912, 17.618, 15] ; Popove Polje; 20130523, No 26 [42.846, 17.982, 275] . BULGARIA: Melnik, 1982.09.02 [41.523, 23.391, 375] ; Rozen- 2 km SW, 1982.08.27 [41.516, 23.423, 439] .

CROATIA: Jablanac- 0.8 km SE, 2014.08.03, No 96b [44.701, 14.904, 11] ; Jurandvor- 3 km NW, 1997.05.31 [44.997, 14.708, 100]; Lagosta (= Lastovo), pre 1849. xx.xx, type C. dalmaticus [42.767, 16.896, 52] ; Pakostane, 2008.09.10 [45.917, 15.500, 38]; Punat- 5 km SE, 1997.06.01 [44.985, 14.650, 170]; Sibenj, 1997.06.03, No 500 [44.890, 14.960, 600]; Valalta, 2007.07.21, No 5 [42.128, 13.630, 27]; Valalta, 2007.07.24, No 7 [42.128, 13.630, 27]; Vrgada Island, 2008.09.13 [43.850, 15.500, 60] . GREECE: Corfu: Akr. Kefali, 2013.06.05 [39.752, 19.633, 13] ; Fotina, 2012.09.01 [40.221, 22.306, 398]; Mazedonien Expedition, 1917 and 1918 [40.0, 21.0, 500; guess]; Metamorfosi- 6 km N, 2009.08.27 [40.284, 23.626, 335]; Nestos Delta, 2004. xx.xx [40.850, 24.870, 2]; Pandeleimonas-Pori, 2012.09.04 [39.985, 22.585, 545]; Taxiarhis, 2009.08.30 [40.400, 23.517, 594] . MONTENEGRO: Herceg Novi, 2013.05.11, No 20 [42.453, 18.552, 107] ; Lake Skadar, 2014.06.03 [42.330, 19.071, 129]; Slano- 0.5 km N, 2014.06.01, No 13 [42.790, 17.883, 35]; Zagarac, 1911.06.21 [42.620, 18.970, 800] .

SWITZERLAND: Lugano: Ruvigliana, 1961.xx.xx [46.005, 8.99, 500].

Geographic range. The range extends northwest over north Italy to south Switzerland. The northernmost site reported by Kutter (1977) is Ruvigliana near Lugano [46.00°N, 8.99° E, 400 m]. The species is unknown so far from Asia Minor.

Diagnosis (Tab. 3) See key. Two major workers are depicted in AntWeb.org under CASENT0179601 (the most frequent color morph). and CASENT0906110 (the rare, entirely black color morph).

Biology. See Seifert (2018).

Comments. See next species.