Temnothoraxcrasecundus sp. n. - a cryptic Eurocaucasian ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) discovered by Nest Centroid Clustering.

ABSTRACT: The paper integrates two independent studies of numeric morphology-based alpha-taxonomy of the cryptic ant species Temnothoraxcrassispinus (Karavajev, 1926) and Temnothoraxcrasecundus sp. n. conducted by different investigators, using different equipment, considering different character combinations and evaluating different samples. Samples investigated included 603 individual workers from 203 nests - thereof 104 nest samples measured by Seifert and 99 by Csösz. The material originated from Europe, Asia Minor and Caucasia. There was a very strong interspecific overlap in any of the 29 shape characters recorded and subjective expert determination failed in many cases. Primary classification hypotheses were formed by the exploratory data analysis Nest Centroid (NC) clustering and corrected t

SUBMITTER: Seifert B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4319063 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature