Abstract
A new species of the thermophilous Tetramorium caespitum species complex, T. sibiricum n. sp., is described from the Central Siberian region near Ulan Ude that has mean January temperatures of – 24 °C. The new species is clearly separable from the related species, T. indocile Santschi, 1927 and T. caespitum (Linnaeus, 1758), by exploratory data analyses of 35 phenotypic characters and by a discriminant analysis of seven phenotypic characters. A key to these three species, which all might occur in Central Siberia, is provided. The zoogeographic divide called the Reinig Line (De Lattin, 1967) is considered to be important in separating the ranges of Central and East Palaearctic ant species with less strong cold-hardiness. Based on images of type specimens, Tetramorium annectens Pisarski, 1969 is recognized as heterospecific from T. tsushimae Emery, 1925.
Highlights
In 2019, the author received eleven nest samples of Tetramorium workers collected by Igor ANTONOV in two sites in the surroundings of Irkutsk and two sites in stony steppe habitats southwest of Ulan Ude
The recent revision of the Westpalaearctic members of the Tetramorium caespitum complex published by WAGNER et al (2017) strongly improved the taxonomic knowledge on this difficult ant group and distinguished ten species: Tetramorium caespitum (LINNAEUS, 1758), T. impurum (FOERSTER, 1850), T. indocile SANTSCHI, 1927, T. immigrans
Using exploratory data analyses of a very complex morphological character system, this paper provides evidence for the existence of an undescribed Central Siberian species Tetramorium sibiricum n.sp. and of two further species occurring in Siberia west of the zoogeographic divide known as the REINIG Line (DE LATTIN, 1967)
Summary
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