1. Species group of brunneus (L. s. str. Part 1/3)

(Figs 8A, 9A)

Constituent species (11): austriacus Schlick-Steiner [e], brunneus [e], excavatus Seifert [e], himalayanus Bingham [e], israelicus Seifert [e], lasioides (Emery) [e], neglectus Van Loon etal. [e], precursor Seifert [e], silvaticus Seifert [e], tapinomoides Salata & Borowiec [e], turcicus Santschi [e].

Distribution: Palaearctic.

Identification: Within the niger clade, workers of the brunneus group differ from the fuliginosus group in coloration (brown vs jet black), cuticle surface texture (finely shagreened vs polished), and head shape (more-or-less oval vs cordate); otherwise, apparently without strong or consistent differentiating conditions relative to the niger group (Seifert, 2020). Roughly differing from the niger group in the combination of mandibles with ≤8 teeth on average within a colony plus scapes and outer (extensor) surface of the metatibia having <8 total standing setae. Species-level identification is provided by Seifert (2020).

Note 1. Within the brunneus species group as circumscribed here, two complexes are recognized by Seifert (2020): that of brunneus comprises brunneus, excavatus, lasioides, himalayanus, and silvaticus (five spp. total), and that of turcicus comprises austriacus, israelicus, neglectus, precursor, tapinomoides and turcicus (six spp. total).

Note 2. The differentiating features relative to the niger group above are intended to be heuristic. See the key in Seifert (2020) for formal identification of brunneus group species.