Plagiolepis grassei

Plagiolepis grassei
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Plagiolepidini
Genus:	Plagiolepis
Species:	P. grassei
Binomial name
Plagiolepis grassei Le Masne, 1956

Plagiolepis grassei is an inquiline in the nest of Plagiolepis pygmaea. It is known to produce workers along with sexual offspring.

At a Glance

• Inquiline

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 44.09235° to 37.838032°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: France (type locality), Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Spain.

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.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Nomenclature

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

• grassei. Plagiolepis grassei Le Masne, 1956: 673 (w.q.m.) FRANCE. See also: Passera, 1969: 327.

References

• Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Borowiec, M.L., Cover, S.P., Rabeling, C. 2021. The evolution of social parasitism in Formica ants revealed by a global phylogeny. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, e2026029118 (doi:10.1073/pnas.2026029118).
• Buschinger, A. (2009). Social parasitism among ants: a review. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 12: 219-235.
• Catarineu, C., Barberá, G.G., Reyes-López, J.L. 2018. Zoogeography of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of southeastern Iberian Peninsula. Sociobiology 65, 383-396 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v65i3.2822).
• Degueldre, F., Mardulyn, P., Kuhn, A., Pinel, A., Karaman, C., Lebas, C., Schifani, E., Bračko, G., Wagner, H.C., Kiran, K., Borowiec, L., Passera, L., Abril, S., Espadaler, X., Aron, S. 2021. Evolutionary history of inquiline social parasitism in Plagiolepis ants. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 155, 107016 (doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107016).
• Le Masne, G. 1956b. Recherches sur les fourmis parasites. Plagiolepis grassei et l'évolution des Plagiolepis parasites. C. R. Séances Acad. Sci. 243: 673-675 (page 673, worker, queen, male described)
• Passera, L. 1969 [1968]. Observations biologiques sur la fourmi Plagiolepis grassei Le Masne Passera, parasite social de Plagiolepis pygmaea Latr. (Hym. Formicidae). Insectes Soc. 15: 327-336 (page 327, see also)
• Pérez‐Marcos, M., López‐Gallego, E., Arnaldos, M.I., Martínez‐Ibáñez, D., García, M.D. 2020. Formicidae (Hymenoptera) community in corpses at different altitudes in a semiarid wild environment in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Entomological Science 23, 297–310 (doi:10.1111/ENS.12422).
• Schifani, E. (2022). The new checklist of the Italian fauna: Formicidae. Biogeographia – The Journal of Integrative Biogeography 37, ucl006 (doi:10.21426/b637155803).
• Schifani, E. 2017. First record of the vulnerable social parasite ant Plagiolepis grassei in Italy (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fragmenta entomologica, 49 (1): 61-64.
• Schifani, E., Csősz, S., Viviano, R., Alicata, A. 2021. Ant diversity on the largest Mediterranean islands: on the presence or absence of 28 species in Sicily (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Natural History Sciences 8, 55–70 (doi:10.4081/nhs.2021.532).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• AntArea. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://antarea.fr/fourmi/
• Antarea (at www.antarea.fr on June 11th 2017)
• Bernard F. 1967. Faune de l'Europe et du Bassin Méditerranéen. 3. Les fourmis (Hymenoptera Formicidae) d'Europe occidentale et septentrionale. Paris: Masson, 411 pp.
• Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Casevitz-Weulersse J., and C. Galkowski. 2009. Liste actualisee des Fourmis de France (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 114: 475-510.
• Martinez D., E. Lopez-Gallego, I. Arnaldos, and D. Garcia. 2012. New record of Plagiolepis grasseiLe Masne, 1956 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) in the Iberian Peninsula and its relation to the sarcosaprophagous fauna. Boln. Asoc. esp. Ent., 36 (1-2): 211-214.
• Passera L. 1967. Peuplement en fourmis terricoles du rebord Meridional des Causses jurassiques du Quercy: la lande calcaire a buis. Vie et milieu. Serie C, Biologie terrestre 18(1): 189-205.
• Schifani E. 2017. First record of the vulnerable social parasite ant Plagiolepis grassei in Italy (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fragmenta entomologica 49 (1): 61-64.