&lt;i&gt;Hypoponera ragusai&lt;/i&gt; (Emery, 1895) a cavernicolous ant new for the Iberian Peninsula (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Alberto Tinaut

doi:10.3989/graellsia.2001.v57.i1.290

Abstract

In this study, we cite Hypoponera ragusai for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, this species being distributed throughout the North Africa, southern Italy and southern France. This species shows cavernicolous behaviour in Sicily. In Spain the only three localities known until the moment are also cavities, one in the province of Almeria (Sima Termal), other in the province of Malaga (Cueva de Nerja) and the other in the province of Granada (Cueva del Barranco Inate). The population studied in the Cueva del Barranco Inate presents, throughout the year, three castes typical of formicids —that is, workers, females and males— in addition to eggs and larvae. The constant presence of brood, aptery in the females and males, as well as their limitation to the cavernicolous environment raise the possibility that this might even be a species, or at least populations, that are strictly cavedwelling, considerations discussed in depth in this paper.

Highlights

Hypoponera ragusai was described for Sicily (Emery, 1895) and later was cited for Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, central Sahara, eastern Africa and certain localities of France, but as this author indicates, it is doubtful that all these records refer to the same species
Outside Sicily, its distribution does not appear to be restricted to caves, it is considered more endogeous than others of the genus (Bernard, 1968). This species, until now not recorded for the Iberian Peninsula, has been found in the Cueva del Barranco de Iñate, near the village of Lobres (Granada), in the Sima Termal (Sierra de Gádor, El Ejido, Almería) and in Cueva de Nerja (Málaga). The record of this species in the Iberian Peninsula for the first time, as well as a discussion of its cavedwelling character constitute the objectives of the present paper
(c) Sociedad de Amigos del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales y Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España http://graellsia.revistas.csic.es period of two years, we found workers and queens, as well as a constant presence of larvae and males, these were invariably low in number

Summary

Introduction

Hypoponera ragusai was described for Sicily (Emery, 1895) and later was cited for Algeria, Tunisia, Syria, central Sahara, eastern Africa and certain localities of France (see Mei, 1992), but as this author indicates, it is doubtful that all these records refer to the same species.(c) Sociedad de Amigos del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales y Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Licencia Creative Commons 3.0 España (by-nc) http://graellsia.revistas.csic.es TINAUT, A.In Sicily, this ant is invariably found in cavities, and can be considered, at least in that area, to be a cavedweller (Baroni Urbani 1962; Mei 1992). This species, until now not recorded for the Iberian Peninsula, has been found in the Cueva del Barranco de Iñate, near the village of Lobres (Granada), in the Sima Termal (Sierra de Gádor, El Ejido, Almería) and in Cueva de Nerja (Málaga).

Results

Conclusion