New analyses in the species triple Myrmica sabuleti Meinert 1861, lonae Finzi 1926 and spinosior Santschi 1931 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25674/526Keywords:
Cryptic species, numeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy, hybridization, ecological nicheAbstract
New multivariate analyses considering new differential characters and based on hypothesis formation by NC-clustering are presented for three closely related species of the Westpalaearctic Myrmica sabuleti species complex. Investigation of 345 nest samples with 1080 workers resulted in the confirmation of Myrmica sabuleti Meinert 1861, M. lonae Finzi 1926 and M. spinosior Santschi 1931 as valid species. The analysis provided suggestions for local hybridization between M. sabuleti and M. lonae but the overall morphological, zoogeographic and ecological evidence favors a treatment as different species.
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