01626nas a2200193   4500008004100000245009900041210006900140300000700209490000900216520090200225653001201127653001601139653002901155653004401184653001901228100002201247700002601269856013701295       2016                        eng d00aThe Westpalaearctic Lasius paralienus complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) contains three species0 aWestpalaearctic Lasius paralienus complex Hymenoptera Formicidae  a580 v41323 a<p>Application of Numeric Morphology-Based Alpha-Taxonomy (NUMOBAT) demonstrated the existence of three cryptic species within the Westpalaearctic Lasius paralienus species complex: L. paralienus Seifert, 1992, having a wider European distribution north to Sweden, L. casevitzi sp. nov., an endemic of Corsica, and Lasius bombycina sp. nov. from southeast Central Europe, the Balkans and Asia Minor. Hierarchical NC-Ward clustering and non-hierarchical NC-k-means clustering of 16 morphological characters resulted in 98.7% identical classifications within 76 examined nest samples of the three species. The classification error in 180 worker individuals was 0% in a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and 1.3% in a LOOCV-LDA. Differential characters to other species groups and an identification key of the six European members of the Lasius alienus F&ouml;rster species group are provided.</p>
10aendemic10amorphometry10anest centroid clustering10aNumeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy10asister species1 aSeifert, Bernhard1 aGalkowski, Christophe  uhttps://formicidae-bg.myspecies.info/content/westpalaearctic-lasius-paralienus-complex-hymenoptera-formicidae-contains-three-species02944nas a2200193   4500008004100000245014000041210006900181300001000250490000800260520215100268653001802419653002902437653004402466653002302510653003002533100002202563700002002585856014502605       2015                        eng d00aTemnothorax crasecundus sp. n. – a cryptic Eurocaucasian ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) discovered by Nest Centroid Clustering0 aTemnothorax crasecundus sp n a cryptic Eurocaucasian ant species  a37-640 v4793 a<p>The paper integrates two independent studies of numeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy of the cryptic ant species Temnothorax crassispinus (Karavajev, 1926) and T. crasecundus sp. n. conducted by different investigators, using different equipment, considering different character combinations and evaluating different samples. Samples investigated included 603 individual workers from 203 nests &ndash; thereof 104 nest samples measured by Seifert and 99 by Cs&ouml;sz. The material originated from Europe, Asia Minor and Caucasia. There was a very strong interspecific overlap in any of the 29 shape characters recorded and subjective expert determination failed in many cases. Primary classification hypotheses were formed by the exploratory data analysis Nest Centroid (NC) clustering and corrected to final species hypotheses by an iterative linear discriminant analysis algorithm. The evaluation of Seifert&rsquo;s and Cs&ouml;sz&rsquo;s data sets arrived at fully congruent conclusions. NC-Ward and NC-K-means clustering disagreed from the final species hypothesis in only 1.9 and 1.9% of the samples in Seifert&rsquo;s data set and by 1.1 and 2.1% in Cs&ouml;sz&rsquo;s data set which is a strong argument for heterospecificity. The type series of T. crassispinus and T. crasecundus sp. n. were allocated to different clusters with p = 0.9851 and p = 0.9912 respectively. The type series of the junior synonym T. slavonicus (Seifert, 1995) was allocated to the T. crassispinus cluster with p = 0.9927. T. crasecundus sp. n. and T. crassispinus are parapatric species with a long contact zone stretching from the Peloponnisos peninsula across Bulgaria northeast to the southern Ukraine. There is no indication for occurrence of interspecifically mixed nests or intraspecific polymorphism. However, a significant reduction of interspecific morphological distance at sites with syntopic occurrence of both species indicates local hybridization. The results are discussed within the context of the Pragmatic Species Concept of Seifert (2014). The taxonomic description and a differential diagnosis of T. crasecundus sp. n. are given.</p>
10ahybridization10aintraspecific dimorphism10aNumeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy10aparapatric species10aPragmatic Species Concept1 aSeifert, Bernhard1 aCsősz, Sándor  uhttps://formicidae-bg.myspecies.info/content/temnothorax-crasecundus-sp-n-%E2%80%93-cryptic-eurocaucasian-ant-species-hymenoptera-formicidae