Lasius kritikos

Lasius kritikos
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Lasiini
Genus:	Lasius
Section:	niger clade
Species group:	alienus
Species complex:	paralienus
Species:	L. kritikos
Binomial name
Lasius kritikos Seifert, 2020 Specimen Labels

One sample was collected in a NW-facing Quercus forest, which is the only natural history information known about L. kritikos.

Identification

Palaearctic Lasius s. str. species belonging to the Lasius paralienus species complex.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Palaearctic Lasius s. str.
• Key to Palaearctic Lasius subgenus Lasius s. st.

Distribution

Known from the two type localities in Crete.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Greece (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Holotype of Lasius kritikos. Worker. Specimen code antweb1041445. Photographer Roland Schultz, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by SMNG, Görlitz, Germany.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• kritikos. Lasius kritikos Seifert, 2020: 60, figs. 39-40 (w.) GREECE.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Absolute size rather small (CS 866 µm). Scape and maxillary palp length indices high (SL/CS900 1.007, MP6/ CS900 0.217). Number of mandibular dents not recordable in the available material but MaDe900 predictably > 8. Clypeal pubescence very dense (sqPDCL900 3.36). Pronotal setae long (PnHL/CS900 0.155). Dorsum of scape, extensor profile of hind tibia and metapleuron below propodeal spiracle without or with very few semierect to erect setae (nSc900 0.9, nHT900 2.2, nSt900 1.6). Lasius kritikos shares with Lasius casevitzi the large SL/CS900 and MP6/ CS900 data but can be separated from the latter by the much lower setae numbers. Coloration: medium brown with a yellowish tinge, gaster a little lighter; mandibles antennae, tibiae and tarsae a pale yellowish brown.

See table 4 in Seifert 2020 for additional morphometrics. The abbreviated names of various quantitative data shown above are defined here: Seifert 2020 Lasius characters.

Type Material

Holotype plus 2 paratype workers on the same pin labelled ”GREECE: 24.04—04.05.1992 Kreta, Ida Gebirge Nordseite, 1400-1500 mH, Leg. Schulz 640“; 3 paratype workers labelled ”GREECE: 24.04—04.05.1992 Kreta, Ida Gebirge Nordseite, 1300 mH, Leg. Schulz 644“; 6 paratype workers on Holotype plus 2 paratype workers on the same pin labelled ”GREECE: 24.04—04.05.1992 Kreta, Ida Gebirge Nordseite, 1400-1500 mH, Leg. Schulz 640“; 3 paratype workers labelled ”GREECE: 24.04—04.05.1992 Kreta, Ida Gebirge Nordseite, 1300 mH, Leg. Schulz 644“; 6 paratype workers on two pins labelled ”GR- Kreta, 3 km SW Omalos, 1400-1600m, Nordwesthang Eichenwald, Leg: Schulz 24.04-04.05.1992, 682“; depository Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz.

Etymology

Derived from the Greek masculine word Κρήτήκος for an inhabitant of Crete.

References

• Borowiec, L., Salata, S. 2022. A monographic review of ants of Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Vol. 1. Introduction and review of all subfamilies except the subfamily Myrmicinae. Part 1: text. Natural History Monographs of the Upper Silesian Museum 1: 1-297.
• Menchetti, M., Schifani, E., Alicata, A., Vila, R. 2023. Quantitative morphology and mtDNA reveal that Lasius maltaeus is not endemic to the Maltese Islands (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 95, 129–142 (doi:10.3897/jhr.95.96365).
• Seifert, B. 2020. A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic members of the subgenus Lasius s.str. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Soil Organisms 92(1): 15-86 (doi:10.25674/so92iss1pp15).