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A taxonomic revision of the Malagasy endemic subgenus Mayria of the genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) based on qualitative morphology and quantitative morphometric analyses.

ABSTRACT: The subgenus Mayria of the genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is revised. The subgenus is endemic to Madagascar where it occupies a broad range of habitats, from deciduous and dry forest to rainforest. A taxonomic review is provided of this subgenus, integrating multiples lines of evidence including qualitative morphology and quantitative morphometry. Species hypotheses are formed by Nest Centroid clustering. In total, 36 species are treated, of which eleven are newly described: Camponotusandrianjaka sp. nov., Camponotusantsaraingy sp. nov., Camponotuschrislaini sp. nov., Camponotusclaveri sp. nov., Camponotusivadia sp. nov., Camponotusjjacquia sp. nov., Camponotusmaintilany sp. nov., Camponotusnorvigi sp. nov., Camponotusihazofotsy sp. nov., Camponotustsimelahy sp. nov., Camponotuszoro sp. nov. Five species are redescribed. Camponotusthemistocles Forel stat. nov., is raised to species. In addition, the subgenus is redefined to include 39 species. Twenty-two previously described species are transferred to this subgenus and thirteen species previously placed in the subgenus are transferred out of the subgenus. Nine morphologically consistent species groups are delineated to facilitate species identification within the subgenus. This revision includes a classification, a key to species groups, and an updated key to species based on the minor worker caste.

SUBMITTER: Rasoamanana N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8786815 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The Malagasy Camponotus edmondi species group is revised based on both qualitative morphological traits and multivariate analysis of continuous morphometric data. To minimize the effect of the scaling properties of diverse traits due to worker caste polymorphism, and to achieve the desired near-linearity of data, morphometric analyses were done only on minor workers. The majority of traits exhibit broken scaling on head size, dividing Camponotus workers into two discrete subcastes, minors and majors. This broken scaling prevents the application of algorithms that uses linear combination of data to the entire dataset, hence only minor workers were analyzed statistically. The elimination of major workers resulted in linearity and the data meet required assumptions. However, morphometric ratios for the subsets of minor and major workers were used in species descriptions and redefinitions. Prior species hypotheses and the goodness of clusters were tested on raw data by confirmatory linear discriminant analysis. Due to the small sample size available for some species, a factor known to reduce statistical reliability, hypotheses generated by exploratory analyses were tested with extreme care and species delimitations were inferred via the combined evidence of both qualitative (morphology and biology) and quantitative data. Altogether, fifteen species are recognized, of which 11 are new to science: Camponotus alamainasp. n., Camponotus androysp. n., Camponotus bevohitrasp. n., Camponotus galokosp. n., Camponotus matsilosp. n., Camponotus mifakasp. n., Camponotus orombesp. n., Camponotus tafosp. n., Camponotus tratrasp. n., Camponotus varatrasp. n., and Camponotus zavosp. n. Four species are redescribed: Camponotus echinoploides Forel, Camponotus edmondi André, Camponotus ethicus Forel, and Camponotus robustus Roger. Camponotus edmondi ernesti Forel, syn. n. is synonymized under Camponotus edmondi. This revision also includes an identification key to species for both minor and major castes, information on geographic distribution and biology, taxonomic discussions, and descriptions of intraspecific variation. Traditional taxonomy and multivariate morphometric analysis are independent sources of information which, in combination, allow more precise species delimitation. Moreover, quantitative characters included in identification keys improve accuracy of determination in difficult cases.

Project description:BackgroundMadagascar is famous for its extremely rich biodiversity; the island harbors predominantly endemic and threatened communities meriting special attention from biodiversity scientists. Continuing ongoing efforts to inventory the Malagasy ant fauna, we revise the species currently placed in the myrmicine genus Aphaenogaster Mayr. One species described from Madagascar, Aphaenogaster friederichsi Forel, is synonymized with the Palearctic A. subterranea Latreille syn. nov. This species is considered neither native to Madagascar nor established in the region. This revision focuses on the balance of species in the A. swammerdami group which are all endemic to Madagascar.MethodsThe diversity of the Malagasy Aphaenogaster fauna was assessed via application of multiple lines of evidence involving quantitative morphometric, qualitative morphological, and DNA sequence data. (1) Morphometric investigation was based on hypothesis-free Nest Centroid clustering (NC-clustering) combined with PArtitioning based on Recursive Thresholding (PART) to estimate the number of morphological clusters and determine the most probable boundaries between them. This protocol provides a repeatable and testable approach to find patterns in continuous morphometric data. Species boundaries and the reliability of morphological clusters recognized by these exploratory analyses were tested via confirmatory Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). (2) Qualitative, external morphological characteristics (e.g., shape, coloration patterns, setae number) were subjectively evaluated in order to create a priori grouping hypotheses, and confirm and improve species delimitation. (3) Species delimitation analyses based on mitochondrial DNA sequences from cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene fragments were carried out to test the putative species previously delimited by morphological and morphometric analyses.ResultsFive species can be inferred based on the integrated evaluation of multiple lines of evidence; of these, three are new to science: Aphaenogaster bressleri sp. n., A. gonacantha (Emery, 1899), A. makay sp. n., A. sahafina sp. n., and A. swammerdami Forel, 1886. In addition, three new synonymies were found for A. swammerdami Forel, 1886 (A. swammerdami clara Santschi, 1915 syn. n., A. swammerdami curta Forel, 1891 syn. n. and A. swammerdami spinipes Santschi, 1911 syn. n.). Descriptions and redefinitions for each taxon and an identification key for their worker castes using qualitative traits and morphometric data are given. Geographic maps depicting species distributions and biological information regarding nesting habits for the species are also provided.

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A taxonomic revision of the Malagasy endemic subgenus Mayria of the genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) based on qualitative morphology and quantitative morphometric analyses.

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