Hypoponera ragusai (Emery, 1895) a cavernicolous ant new for the Iberian Peninsula (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Abstract

In this study, we cite Hypoponera ragusai for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula, this species being distributed throughout the North Africa, southern Italy and southern France. This species shows cavernicolous behaviour in Sicily. In Spain the only three localities known until the moment are also cavities, one in the province of Almería (Sima Termal), other in the province of Málaga (Cueva de Nerja) and the other in the province of Granada (Cueva del Barranco Iñate). The population studied in the Cueva del Barranco Iñate presents, throughout the year, three castes typical of formicids —that is, workers, females and males— in addition to eggs and larvae. The constant presence of brood, aptery in the females and males, as well as their limitation to the cavernicolous environment raise the possibility that this might even be a species, or at least populations, that are strictly cavedwelling, considerations discussed in depth in this paper.