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The ant genus Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Myrmicinae, Crematogastrini) is diverse with 498 species described. Species are distributed predominately within the northern hemisphere with species richness decreasing closer to the tropics; contrary to other ant genera overall. In Southeast Asia, richness is relatively low and knowledge on the genus remains fragmentary, likely due to poor sampling efforts compared to temperate regions. Here, using specimens from recent sampling efforts, Temnothorax is reported for the first time from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Two new species, T. barrettoi Hamer & Guénard sp. nov. and T. haveni Lee, Hamer & Guénard sp. nov., are described based on qualitive morphological characters, with additional morphometric data also gathered. An updated key, as well as a distributional checklist of Temnothorax species from mainland China is provided. We suggest that the two new species are likely arboreal based on our collections, however, further arboreal sampling is necessary to confirm this hypothesis. We hope this study may spurn effort to generate further information on sub-tropical Chinese Temnothorax species.
The genus Rhaphium Meigen, 1803 is recorded for the first time from mangroves in Hong Kong. Three species are described as new to science: Rhaphium hongkongense sp. nov. and Rhaphium spinulatum sp. nov., both tentatively belonging to the Rhaphium crassipes group sensu Negrobov & Grichanov (2010), and Rhaphium canniccii sp. nov. assigned to a new species group, the Rhaphium micans group. The status of Rhaphium mediocre (Becker, 1922) described from Taiwan and Rhaphium eburnea (Parent, 1926) from Shanghai is discussed. NGS barcodes for the new species are provided.
The species of the ant genus Strumigenys Smith, 1860 from Southeast Asia are reviewed based on recent sampling efforts as well as unreported historical material from southern mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. We report 42 new species records for these regions. A total of 20 species new to science are described: S. anhdaoae sp. nov., S. claviseta sp. nov., S. crinigera sp. nov., S. decumbens sp. nov., S. delicata sp. nov., S. densissima sp. nov., S. doydeei sp. nov., S. fellowesi sp. nov., S. intermedia sp. nov., S. jaitrongi sp. nov., S. liuweii sp. nov., S. longidens sp. nov., S. mediocris sp. nov., S. rongi sp. nov., S. scutica sp. nov., S. strummeri sp. nov., S. xenopilus sp. nov., S. yamanei sp. nov., S. zanderi sp. nov. and S. zhenghuii sp. nov. The descriptions of the existing species S. elegantula (Terayama & Kubota, 1989) and S. nathistorisoc Tang et al., 2019 are revised. Strumigenys formosensis Forel, 1912 syn. nov. is synonymized with S. feae Emery 1895 in the light of recently collected specimens. Three species complexes are created within the S. leptothrix-group: elegantula-complex, leptothrix-complex and zanderi-complex, based on differences in dentition. A new species group, S. nathistorisoc-group, is introduced. The key to Strumigenys of East Asia (as Pyramica) by Bolton is partially revised to accommodate species from these species groups that were described since the publication of the key. Finally, the implication of our results to the region and the current limitation of species groups and complexes of the genus is discussed.
