Abstract
Within the last decade, checklists of the ant fauna of several European countries have been published or updated. Nevertheless, no ant checklists have hitherto been published for the principality of Andorra, a small landlocked country located in the eastern part of the Pyrenees. This work presents a critical list of the ant species of Andorra based on a review of the literature and on the biological material we collected during several field campaigns conducted in Andorra since the year 2005. Seventy-five species belonging to 21 genera of Formicidae were recorded. Nine species were recorded for the first time in Andorra: Aphaenogaster gibbosa (Latreille, 1798), Camponotus lateralis (Olivier, 1792), Camponotus piceus (Leach, 1825), Formica exsecta Nylander, 1846, Lasius piliferus Seifert, 1992, Tapinoma madeirense Forel, 1895, Temnothorax lichtensteini (Bondroit, 1918), Temnothorax niger (Forel, 1894), Temnothorax nigriceps (Mayr, 1855). The most speciose genera were Formica Linnaeus, 1758 and Temnothorax Forel, 1890 with 14 and 12 species, respectively. The ant fauna of Andorra is mostly dominated by Central European species (some are typical cold climate specialists); however species belonging to the Mediterranean ant fauna were also found. This can be explained by the particular geographic situation of Andorra which is characterized by a high mountain Mediterranean climate.
Highlights
Over the last decade, ant taxonomy has experienced a renewal in Europe due to the description of new species (Seifert 2005), the revision of genera or species groups (e.g. Radchenko and Elmes 2003, Rigato 2011) and the publication of checklists of the ant fauna of several European countries (e.g. Austria: Steiner et al 2003, Benelux: Boer 2010, Bulgaria: Lapeva-Gjonova et al 2010, Croatia: Bračko 2006; Romania: Markó et al 2006, Montenegro: Karaman 2009, Poland: Czechowski et al 2012, Slovenia: Bračko 2007)
Except for some studies published in the grey literature or some scattered data collected during occasional samplings by Santschi (1919), Röszler (1937), Collingwood and Yarrow (1969), or Espadaler (1997) and Espadaler et al (2008), there is little information available on the ant fauna of Andorra and no ant checklists for this country have been published to date
We included in our checklist the species Tetramorium pyrenaeicum Röszler, 1936
Summary
Ant taxonomy has experienced a renewal in Europe due to the description of new species (Seifert 2005), the revision of genera or species groups (e.g. Radchenko and Elmes 2003, Rigato 2011) and the publication of checklists of the ant fauna of several European countries (e.g. Austria: Steiner et al 2003, Benelux: Boer 2010, Bulgaria: Lapeva-Gjonova et al 2010, Croatia: Bračko 2006; Romania: Markó et al 2006, Montenegro: Karaman 2009, Poland: Czechowski et al 2012, Slovenia: Bračko 2007). Radchenko and Elmes 2003, Rigato 2011) and the publication of checklists of the ant fauna of several European countries (e.g. Austria: Steiner et al 2003, Benelux: Boer 2010, Bulgaria: Lapeva-Gjonova et al 2010, Croatia: Bračko 2006; Romania: Markó et al 2006, Montenegro: Karaman 2009, Poland: Czechowski et al 2012, Slovenia: Bračko 2007). This renewal is due to the publication of excellent taxonomic keys for ant identification This paper presents a list of the ant species of Andorra based on a review of the literature and on material collected during several sampling campaigns conducted in Andorra since 2005
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