Taxonomy of the Crematogaster degeeri-species-assemblage in the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

  • Bonnie B. Blaimer National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
  • Brian L. Fisher California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2013.51
Keywords: Crematogaster, Malagasy region, ants, species-groups, barcoding

Abstract

We revise the species-level taxonomy of the Crematogaster (Crematogaster) degeeri-species-assemblage, a group of related ants occuring in Madagascar and the wider Malagasy region, and further provide an identification key to all species-groups of the genus Crematogaster in this region. Within the C. degeeri-assemblage, we recognize twelve species based upon morphological data from worker, queen and male ants, as well as genetic data from the barcode region of cytochrome oxidase I. Seven new species are described: Crematogaster alafara Blaimer sp. nov., C. bara Blaimer sp. nov., C. mafybe Blaimer sp. nov., C. maina Blaimer sp. nov., C. malahelo Blaimer sp. nov., C. masokely Blaimer sp. nov., C. ramamy Blaimer sp. nov. Crematogaster tricolor Gerstäcker, 1859 (stat. rev.) and C. dentata Dalla Torre, 1893 (stat. nov.) are raised to species level, and the following new synonymies are proposed: Crematogaster degeeri lunaris Santschi, 1928 as a synonym of C. degeeri Forel, 1886; Crematogaster sewelli improba Forel, 1907 and C. sewelli mauritiana Forel, 1907 as synonyms of C. dentata Dalla Torre, 1893, and C. pacifica Santschi, 1919 as a synonym of C. lobata Emery, 1895. Species descriptions, images, and distribution maps and identification keys based on worker ants, as well as on queen ants where available, are presented for all twelve species. In addition, we present a molecular gene tree for cytochrome oxidase I and summarize levels of sequence divergence within and between species of the C. degeeri-species-assemblage. Our findings are discussed in the light of previous work on Malagasy Crematogaster ants.

Author Biographies

Bonnie B. Blaimer, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Department of Entomology
Brian L. Fisher, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA
Department of Entomology

References

AntWeb. Available from http://www.antweb.org [accessed 20 Mar. 2013]

Arnold G. 1920. A monograph of the Formicidae of South Africa. (Myrmicinae). Annals of the South African Museum 14 (4): 403-578.

Blaimer B.B. 2010. Taxonomy and natural history of the Crematogaster (Decacrema) group in Madagascar. Zootaxa 2714: 1-39.

Blaimer B.B. 2012a. Untangling complex morphological variation: taxonomic revision of the subgenus Crematogaster (Oxygyne) in Madagascar, with insight into the evolution and biogeography of this enigmatic ant clade (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 37 (2): 240-260. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1365-3113.2011.00609.x

Blaimer B.B. 2012b. Acrobat ants go global - Origin, evolution and systematics of the genus Crematogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65 (2): 421-436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2012.06.028

Blaimer B.B. 2012c. Taxonomy and species-groups of the subgenus Crematogaster (Orthocrema) in the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 199: 23-70. http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/ zookeys.199.2631

Blaimer B.B. 2012d. A subgeneric revision of Crematogaster and discussion of regional species-groups

(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3482: 47-67.

Blaimer B.B. & Fisher B.L. 2013. How much variation can one ant species hold? Species delimitation in the Crematogaster kelleri-group in Madagascar. PLoS ONE 8 (7): e68082. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0068082

Bolton B. 1995. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bolton B. 2012. Bolton’s Catalogue and Synopsis [online]. Version January 2012. Available from http://

gap.entclub.org/archive/Bolton_NGC_2012_JAN.pdf [accessed 10 Dec. 2012]

Brown W.L. 1973. A comparison of the Hylean and Congo-West African rain forest ant faunas. In: Meggers B.J., Ayensu E.S. & Duckworth W.D (eds) Tropical forest ecosystems in Africa and South America: a comparative review: 161-185. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Buhay J.E. 2009. “COI-like” sequences are becoming problematic in molecular systematic and DNA barcoding studies. Journal of Crustacean Biology 29 (1): 96-110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1651/08-3020.1

Dalla Torre K.W. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7: Formicidae (Heterogyna). G. Engelmann, Leipzig.

Donisthorpe H. 1946. The ants (Hym. Formicidae) of Mauritius. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 13 (97): 25-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222934608654518

Edgar R.C. 2004. MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research 32 (5): 1792-1797. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkh340

Emery C. 1895. Mission scientifique de M. Ch. Alluaud dans le territoire de Diego-Suarez (Madagascar-nord) (Avril-Août 1893). Formicides. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 39: 336-345.

Emery C. 1915. Formiche raccolte nell’Eritrea dal Prof. F. Silvestri. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della Reale Scuola Superiore d’Agricoltura 10, Portici.

Emery C. 1922. Hymenoptera, fam. Formicidae, subfam. Myrmicinae. Genera Insectorum 174B, L. Desmet-Verteneuil, Bruxelles.

Fisher B.L. 2003. Formicidae, ants. In: Goodman S.M. & Benstead J.P. (eds) The Natural History of Madagascar: 811-819. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Fisher B.L. 2005. A model for a global inventory of ants: A case study in Madagascar. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56 (8), Supplement I: 86-97.

Fisher B.L. 2008. Les Fourmis. In: Goodman S.M. (ed) Paysage naturels et biodiversité de Madagascar: 249-271. Publications scientifiques du Muséum, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris.

Forel A. 1886. Diagnoses provisoires de quelques espèces nouvelles de fourmis de Madagascar, récoltées par M. Grandidier. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique, Comptes-rendus de Séance 30.

Forel A. 1887. Fourmis récoltées à Madagascar par le Dr. Conrad Keller. Mitteilungen der Schweizer Entomologischen Gesellschaft 7: 381-389.

Forel A. 1891. Les Formicides. In: Grandidier A. (ed.) Histoire naturelle des Hyménoptères. Deuxième partie. Histoire physique, naturelle et politique de Madagascar 22, Imprimerie nationale, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.1599

Forel A. 1907. Ameisen von Madagaskar, den Comoren und Ostafrika. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse. Reise in Ostafrika 2: 75-92.

GARLI Web Service. GARLI v2.0. Available from http://molecularevolution.org [accessed 3 Mar. 2013] Gautier L. & Goodman S.M. 2003. Introduction to the Flora of Madagascar. In: Goodman S.M. & Benstead J.P. (eds) The Natural History of Madagascar: 229-250. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Gerstäcker A. 1859. Hr. Peters berichtete über sein Reisewerk, von dem die Insecten bis zum 64., die Botanik bis zum 34. Bogen gedruckt sind und theilte den Schluss der Diagnosen der von Hrn. Dr. Gerstäcker bearbeiteten Hymenopteren mit. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1858: 261-264.

Gerstäcker A. 1862. Hymenoptera Hautflügler. In: Peters W.C.H. (ed.) Naturwissenschaftliche Reise nach Mossambique auf Befehl seiner Majestät des Königs Friedrich Wilhelm IV in den Jahren 1842 bis 1848 ausgeführt: 439-526. G. Reimer, Berlin.

Hita-Garcia F. & Fisher B.L. 2011. The ant genus Tetramorium Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Malagasy region: Introduction, definition of species groups, and revision of the T. bicarinatum, T. obesum, T. sericeiventre and T. tosii species groups. Zootaxa 3039: 1-72.

Hita-Garcia F. & Fisher B.L. 2012. The ant genus Tetramorium Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Malagasy region — taxonomic revision of the T. kelleri and T. tortuosum species groups. Zootaxa 3592: 1-85.

Hosoishi S. & Ogata K. 2009. A taxonomic revision of the Asian endemic subgenus Physocrema of the genus Crematogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 2062: 15-36.

Hosoishi S. & Ogata K. 2012. Revision of the Crematogaster brevis complex in Asia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3349: 18-30.

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature version 4. Available from: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/ [accessed 27 Oct. 2012]

Lanfear R., Calcott B., Ho S.Y.W. & Guindon S. 2012. PartitionFinder: Combined Selection of Partitioning Schemes and Substitution Models for Phylogenetic Analyses. Molecular Biology and Evolution 29 (6): 1695-1701. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mss020

LaPolla J.S., Cheng C.H. & Fisher B.L. 2010. Taxonomic revision of the ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) genus Paraparatrechina in the Afrotropical and Malagasy Regions. Zootaxa 2387: 1-27.

Longino J.T. 2003. The Crematogaster (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) of Costa Rica. Zootaxa 151: 1-150.

Mayr G. 1895. Afrikanische Formiciden. Annalen des Kaiserlich-Königlichen Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 10 (2): 124-154.

Mayr G. 1907. 2. Formicidae. In: Sjöstedt Y. (ed.) 1907-1910 Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Zoologischen Expedition nach dem Kilimandjaro, dem Meru und umgebenden Massaisteppen Deutsch-Ostafrikas 1905-1906. 2. Band, Abt. 8: 7-24. Königlich-Schwedischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Stockholm.

Miller M.A., Pfeiffer W. & Schwartz T. 2010. Creating the CIPRES Science Gateway for inference of large phylogenetic trees. In: Proceedings of the Gateway Computing Environments Workshop (GCE): 1-8. New Orleans, LA. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/GCE.2010.5676129

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. GEOnet Names Server. Available from http://earth-info.nga. mil/gns/html/index.html [accessed 25 Oct. 2012]

Nylander J.A., Wilgenbusch J.C., Warren D.L. & Swofford D.L. 2008. AWTY (are we there yet?): a system for graphical exploration of MCMC convergence in Bayesian phylogenetics. Bioinformatics 24 (4): 581-583. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btm388

R Development Core Team 2008. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available from http://www.R-project.org [accessed 15 Mar. 2013]

Rambaut A. 2006-2009. FigTree: tree figure drawing tool. Version 1.3.1. Available from http://tree.bio.

ed.ac.uk/software/figtree/ [accessed 22 Oct. 2012]

Rambaut A. & Drummond A.J. 2007. Tracer v1.4 [upated to v1.5]. Available from http://beast.bio.ed.ac. uk/Tracer. [accessed 20 Oct. 2012]

Ronquist F., Teslenko M., van der Mark P., Ayres D.L., Darling A., Höhna S., Larget B., Liu L., Suchard M.A, Huelsenbeck J.P. 2012. MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model choice across a large model space. Systematic Biology 61: 539-542. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys029

Santschi F. 1919. Fourmis nouvelles éthiopiennes. Revue Zoologique Africaine 6 (3): 229-240.

Santschi F. 1926. Description de nouveaux Formicides éthiopiens (IIIeme partie). Revue Zoologique Africaine 13: 207-267.

Santschi F. 1928. Descriptions de nouvelles fourmis éthiopiennes (quatrième note). Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines 16: 54-69.

Santschi F. 1930. Description de Formicides éthiopiens nouveaux ou peu connus. V. Bulletin et Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 70: 49-77.

Schatz G.E. & Lescot M. 2012. Gazetteer to Malagasy botanical collecting localities. Available from http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/madagascar/gazetteer/ [accessed 25 Oct. 2012]

Schulz W.A. 1906. Spolia hymenopterologica. Junfermannsche Buchhandlung, Paderborn.

Smith M.A. & Fisher B.L. 2009. Invasions, DNA barcodes, and rapid biodiversity assessment using ants of Mauritius. Frontiers in Zoology 6 (31). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-6-31

Song H., Buhay J.E., Whiting M.F. & Crandall K.A. 2008. Many species in one: DNA barcoding overestimates the number of species when nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes are coamplified. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105 (36): 13486-13491. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0803076105

Tamura K. & Nei M. 1993. Estimation of the number of nucleotide substitutions in the control region of mitochondrial DNA in humans and chimpanzees. Molecular Biology and Evolution 10 (3): 512-526.

Tamura K., Peterson D., Peterson N., Stecher G., Nei M. & Kumar S. 2011. MEGA5: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis Using Maximum Likelihood, Evolutionary Distance, and Maximum Parsimony Methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution 28 (10): 2731-2739. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ molbev/msr121

Ward P.S. 2007. Phylogeny, classification, and species-level taxonomy of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1668: 549-563.

Ward P.S. 2010. Taxonomy, Phylogenetics and Evolution. In: Lach L., Parr C.L. &. Abott K.L (eds) Ant Ecology: 3-17. Oxford University Press, Oxford. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199544639.003.0001

Wheeler W.M. 1922a. VIII. A synonymic list of the ants of the Ethiopian region. In: Wheeler W.M. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa: 711-1004. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, American Museum of Natural History, New- York.

Wheeler W.M. 1922b. IX. A synonymic list of the ants of the Malagasy region. In: Wheeler W.M. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa: 1005-1055. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, American Museum of Natural History, New- York.

Yoshimura M. & Fisher B.L. 2012. A revision of male ants of the Malagasy Amblyoponinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with resurrections of the genera Stigmatomma and Xymmer. PLoS ONE 7 (3): e33325. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033325

Zwickl D.J. 2006. Genetic algorithm approaches for the phylogenetic analysis of large biological sequence datasets under the maximum likelihood criterion. PhD Thesis, The University of Texas, Austin.

Published
2013-08-02
How to Cite
Blaimer, B. B., & Fisher, B. L. (2013). Taxonomy of the Crematogaster degeeri-species-assemblage in the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). European Journal of Taxonomy, (51). https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2013.51
Issue
No. 51 (2013): Taxonomy of the Crematogaster degeeri-species-assemblage in the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Section
Entomology
Copyright (c) 2013 Bonnie B. Blaimer, Brian L. Fisher

Creative Commons Copyright Notices

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are NOT ALLOWED TO post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to taxonomic issues.