First record of Temnothorax convexus (Forel, 1894) in Portugal (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with an updated checklist of the ants from the country

Abstract

The Iberian Peninsula holds one of the richest myrmecofauna of the Mediterranean basin, but some regions such as Portugal remain comparatively undersampled. Although new unrecorded species have been regularly found and published during the last two decades, the sum is still far from approaching the more than 300 species known to occur in the Iberian Peninsula. In this context, the arboreal ant Temnothorax convexus (Forel, 1894) is reported here for the first time in Portugal. A complete society was found nesting inside an abandoned gall of Andricus quercustozae (Bosc, 1792) near Lisbon. A full morphometric evaluation of the specimens is provided, including a small sample from the recently discovered population in South Iberia. High-definition photographs of the worker caste are presented, together with a comparison with the most similar species in Iberia. Finally, a critical update of the Portuguese ant checklist is provided, discussing the most recent nomenclatural changes and taxonomic issues, rising the final species number to 132.

Keywords

• Catalogue
• taxonomy
• new country record
• Iberian Peninsula