TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schifani, Enrico
A1  - Prebus, Matthew M.
A1  - Alicata, Antonio
T1  - Integrating morphology with phylogenomics to describe four island endemic species of Temnothorax from Sicily and Malta (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
T2  - European journal of taxonomy
N2  - Temnothorax (Myrmicinae, Crematogastrini) is one of the most diverse Holarctic ant genera, and new taxonomic advancements are still frequent worldwide. The Mediterranean region, a global biodiversity hotspot characterized by a complex geographic history, is home to a substantial portion of its described diversity. Sicily is the region’s largest island and, as ongoing investigations are revealing, it is inhabited by a long-overlooked but highly diverse ant fauna that combines multiple biogeographic influences. We combined qualitative and quantitative morphology of multiple castes with phylogenomic analysis based on ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) to describe four species of Temnothorax endemic to Sicily and the neighboring Maltese Islands (Sicilian Channel). Three of these species, T. marae Alicata, Schifani & Prebus sp. nov., T. poldii Alicata, Schifani & Prebus sp. nov. and T. vivianoi Schifani, Alicata & Prebus sp. nov., are new to science, while a redescription clarifies the identity of T. lagrecai (Baroni Urbani, 1964). These descriptions highlight the current difficulties of delimiting monophyletic Temnothorax species groups based on morphological characters. The intra-insular endemicity patterns we revealed highlight the importance of Mediterranean paleogeography to contemporary ant diversity and distribution in the region.
T3  - European journal of taxonomy  : EJT - 833:143–179 
KW  - Maghreb
KW  - Italy
KW  - Mediterranean biogeography
KW  - island endemics
KW  - short-range endemic (SRE) invertebrates
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/68760
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-687603
SN  - 2118-9773
VL  - 2022
IS  - 833
SP  - 143
EP  - 179
PB  - Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
CY  - Paris
ER  -