Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea (Latreille)
 Iran list  Type location France
(Formica pygmaea, Latreille, 1798: 45, worker & queen;
Schenck, 1852: 69, male) - no images on Antweb (December 2014)
subspecies
bulawayensis (Plagiolepis
pygmaea Latreille var. bulawayensis
n. v., Arnold, 1922: 601, worker & queen) from Zimbabwe,
Bulawayo - see below
mima (Plagiolepis
pygmaea Latreille var. mima
n. v., Arnold, 1922: 602, worker) from Zimbabwe, Hillside,
Bulawayo, G Arnold
minu (Plagiolepis
pygmaea Latr. v. Minu
n. var., Forel, 1911d: 350, worker) from Greece- see below
worker and queen only known (see Bolton,
1995)  .
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 Latreille (1802c: 183) reiterated his description, this
is at  . Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau (1835: 195)
gave a description, this is at  . Arnold (1922: 600 ff), citing Latreille's
(1798) description, gave a full description; that plus his descriptions
of bulawayensis and mima is at  . Santschi (1920g) made a study of pygmaea
and its close relatives; the pygmaea description is at  . Emery (1921d) made a study of the pygmaea
group of Mediterranean species; this is at -  . Presumably, it post-dated Arnold's (1922) work on Plagiolepis
species. Emery regarded pygmaea as the species from around the
Mediterranean and a group from South Africa. It seems possible that
more precise study would lead to both bulawayensis and mima
being raised to full species status.
Karavaiev (1931a: 309ff) considered pygmaea
specimens from Palermo, Sicily, and what now is the species taurica
(Plagiolepis maura var taurica, Santschi, 1920g: 171,
worker; raised to species Radchenko, 1989b: 155) from Ukraine.
Karavaiev's text is at  .
Forel (1911d) separation of minu
was, TL 1.7-2.3 mm; more robust than the type; head distinctly wider
than long, widely impressed behind; alitrunk also more robust; head
brown, slightly reddish-brown; alitrunk reddish with the top of the
pronotum and propodeuam brownish; gaster brown, appendages reddish,
middle of femora, tibiae and antennal club brownish; pubescence and
pilosity as type.
Specimens from the type collections of bulawayensis
and mima
are shown at the bottom of this page. Whereas bulawayensis appears close to the
dark form from the Mediterranean area, minu clearly is either a separate
species or a form of one of the other African species.
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Oxford University Museum
specimens
Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det.
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Egypt
M Sharaf
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6.iii.2003
Zaranik
30°39' N
34°26' E
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North Sinai
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1
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det.
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Portugal
M Eichhorn
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8.iv.2008
Lisbon
38°38'8" N
9°11'30" W
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heavily degraded
scrubland,
dominated by Acacia dealbata,
Cistus salvifolius
and Pistacia lenticularis,
and were foraging on the Acacia.
The site is south of Lisbon, approximately 5km inland
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2
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Spain
X Espadaler
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27.x.2008
Barcelona
41.3833333 N
2.1833333 W
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Sant Celoni
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5
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Iran
Torabi
23
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28.vi.2014
29.62972°N
52.52677°E
1562 m
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Azadi Park, Shiraz
hand collected
park, soil
20:.20 h
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2
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Iran
Torabi
24
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08.v.2014
29.63515°N
52.52568°E
1599 m
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Eram Garden, Shiraz
hand collected
garden, soil
12:53 h
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2
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Iran
R Afshari
33
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13.vii.2015
31.42°N
51.48°E
2527 m
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Ghale Ghadam,
Semirom, Isfahan
hand collected
field, on ground
1420h
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1
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Iran
F Borjali
14
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29.iv.2014
37°3661 N
49°8594 E
47 m
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Lasht-e Nesha
hand collected
park, on soil, 1530h
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1
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Iran
F Borjali
15
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4.ix.2014
37°1676 N
49°4924 E
2 m
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Chuchesfahan
hand collected
city, on soil, 1445h
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1
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Plagiolepis (Plagiolepis) pygmaea
B Taylor det. |
Iran
F Borjali
16
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17.vii.2014
37°2294 N
50°2539 E
-25 m
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Chaf & Chamkala
hand collected
beach, on ground, 1600h
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1
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 The
photomontage is of a specimen from Egypt, Abumadi Zaranik,
North Sinai, 34°26' E, 30°39' N, collected by Mostafa Sharaf, 6.iii.2003
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 The
photomontage is of a specimen from Iran, Azadi Park, Shiraz,
collected by Roshanak Torabi (23).
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 The
photomontage is of specimens from Portugal, collected on
8.iv.2008 in heavily degraded scrubland, dominated by Acacia
dealbata, Cistus salvifolius and Pistacia lenticularis,
foraging on the Acacia. The site is south of Lisbon,
approximately 5km inland, at W 9°11'30", N 38°,38',8", collector Markus
Eichhorn and students.
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 The
photomontage is of a worker from Mallorca, the original can be seen
on the WWW.hormigas.org
website, and shows the dark colour of the southern European pygmaea.
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 The
photomontage of a syntype worker of bulawayensis is
collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0903145
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 The photomontage of the
type worker of minu is
collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0909856
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