Search results for "Aphaenogaster"
showing 3 items of 3 documents
Intraspecific competition affects population size and resource allocation in an ant dispersing by colony fission
2010
Intraspecific competition is a pervasive phenomenon with important ecological and evolutionary consequences, yet its effect in natural populations remains controversial. Although numerous studies suggest that in many cases populations across all organisms are limited by density-dependent processes, this conclusion often relies on correlative data. Here, using an experimental approach, we examined the effect of intraspecific competition on population regulation of the ant Aphaenogaster senilis. In this species females are philopatric while males disperse by flying over relatively long distances. All colonies were removed from 15 experimental plots, except for one focal colony in each plot, w…
Phylogeny of the ant genus Aphaenogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Iberian Peninsula, with the description of a new species
2018
A phylogenetic tree of the Iberian Aphaenogaster species - except for A. splendida (Roger) - and a key to the worker caste of all Iberian Aphaenogaster species are proposed. The position of A. striativentris Forel and A. cardenai Espadaler is discussed, stating the possibility that this second species may belong to a new, undescribed genus. Aphaenogaster ulibeli n. sp. is described from the Iberian Peninsula. Its closest relatives are A. gibbosa (Latreille) and A. striativentris. Its habitat seems to be restricted to caducifolia forests in the Western Central Massif.
Three endemic Aphaenogaster from the Siculo-Maltese archipelago and the Italian Peninsula: part of a hitherto unrecognized species group from the Mag…
2019
Abstract More than 100 years ago, the Italian myrmecologist Carlo Emery described two endemic Sicilian ants: Aphaenogaster sicula Emery, 1908, which he originally considered a subspecies of A. crocea André, 1881, and A. fiorii Emery, 1915 stat. nov., which he believed was a subspecies of A. gibbosa (Latreille, 1798). Males of the two species and the queen of A. fiorii were never described. The scarcity of information contained in the original description led to several misunderstandings by subsequent authors: for example, A. sicula was later elevated to species-rank on the basis of misidentified material of A. fiorii stat. nov. We redescribe the two species, adding the descriptions of their…