Inventario de las especies de formícidos de Sierra Nevada, Granada (España) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Abstract

In this paper we revise the current records of Formicidae of Sierra Nevada, and include the changes carried out in the taxonomy of the family as well as indicate the possible misidentifications of species in previous records cited in the literature. With these modifications and new contributions, the number of species in Sierra Nevada is raised to 87, three of them, Tapinoma simrothi, Lasius emarginatus and Formica sanguinea remaining still as uncertain records. Out of the total number of species, 22 represent new records from this massif and one of them, Lasius emarginatus, is also a new record for Andalusia. A comparison with previous papers studying the ant fauna of similar massifs, as Sierra de Guadarrama and Sierra de Cazorla, as well as the total number of known species of Andalusia and peninsular Spain, shows that the Sierra Nevada massif is one of the richest of Andalusia. It comprise almost one third of the total number of species of peninsular Spain and 15 species less than Sierra de Guadarrama. However, the number of endemics in Sierra Nevada is very low, only one species being an endemic, probably due to the fact that the cacuminal region (over 2.800 m) in this massif is practically lacking ants, whereas this region usually shows the highest rates of endemic species in mountain regions.