Miscellaneous Ants SUBFAMILY MYRMICINAE - Genera Leptothorax Emery, Nesomyrmex Wheeler and Temnothorax Mayr

In Bolton's catalogue as a single genus Leptothorax (Bolton, 1995: 33). Now reorganised by Bolton (2003: 270 ff) from one Genus Leptothorax into three Genera Leptothorax Mayr, Nesomyrmex Wheeler and Temnothorax Mayr.

Radchenko (2004) noted that Leptothorax (s. str.) includes only 16 free living and socially parasitic Holarctic, mainly boreal, species. After the revised separation by Bolton (2003), Radchenko noted the Palaearctic as containing 187 Temnothorax species but only 11 from the Afrotropical and Oriental Regions. Following his own study, Radchenko described several new species from the East Palaearctic, taking the Temnothorax total there to 19 species. The sole Leptothorax was L. acervorum.

In Tribe FORMICOXENINI.

Separation of genera workers as follows (I give but find unhelpful features of the mouthparts, e.g. the stipes of the maxilla, which often are impossible to see in mounted specimens):-

1	Median anterior portion of clypeus forming a prominent lobe, overlapping mandibles	Nesomyrmex [African species]
--	Median anterior portion of clypeus without a prominent lobe and not overlapping mandibles	2
2	Transverse crest absent from stipe of maxilla; clypeus with median carina; antennae, rarely, 11- or, more commonly, 12-segmented; [if petiolar peduncle as long as or longer than node = former macromischa group of Leptothorax]	Temnothorax [African species]
.		Temnothorax pallidus Iran specimen
--	Transverse crest present on stipe of maxilla; clypeus without a median carina; antennae 11-segmented	Leptothorax

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