Formica congerens NYLANDER, 1846

Seifert, Bernhard, 2021, A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic members of the Formica rufa group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) - the famous mound-building red wood ants, Myrmecological News 31, pp. 133-179 : 164

Formica congerens NYLANDER, 1846

Formica congerens NYLANDER, 1846 [type investigation]

NYLANDER (1846) described this species from the island Mjölön near Helsinki. Five syntypes from FMNH Helsinki were investigated. These were two worker syntypes on the same pin labelled “H:Fors \ W. Nyland. \ Coll. Nyland \ congerens Nyl. \ Mus. Zool. H:fors Spec. typ. No 5023 Formica congerens Nyl. ”, ZM Helsinki. In the upper specimen, petiole and gaster are missing. The lower specimen with CS 2060µm is designated herewith as lectotype and the upper one with CS 2152 µm is the paralectotype. When run as wild-cards in the two-class LDA described in section “ Formica pratensis RETZIUS, 1783 ” (p. 159) and separating Formica lugubris and F. pratensis , the lectotype and paralectotype are classified as F. lugubris with posterior probabilities of p = 0.9921 and p = 1.0000. Three designated syntypes (now paralectotypes) on a second pin, with the lower specimen broken in two parts and badly glued on a card board, are labelled “ Mus. Zool. H:fors Spec. typ. No 5022 Formica congerens Nyl. ”. There is no label indicating the sampling site. The two undamaged specimens were clearly classified as F. pratensis with posterior probabilities of 0.9998 and 0.9944.