Paratrechina vividula (Nylander)

Type location Finland (Formica vividula, Nylander, 1846a: 900, illustrated petioles, all forms), Helsinki hothouses - see below
junior synonyms
picea (Formica picea n. sp., Buckley, 1866: 163, worker; synonym Mayr, 1876: 78; Mayr, 1886d: 431) from USA, Austin, Texas - no images on Antweb (October 2014)
kincaidi (Prenolepis kincaidi sp. nov., Wheeler, 1906e: 350, illustrated male genitalia, all forms; synonymy Trager, 1984b: 75) from Bermuda, coll. Kincaid - no images on Antweb (October 2014)
subspecies
antillana (Prenolepis guatemalensis Forel race antillana n. stirps, Forel, 1893g: 340, all forms; var of vividula, Forel, 1912i: 66) from Antilles Is - no images on Antweb (October 2014)
australis (Paratrechina (Nylanderia) vividula Nyl. v. australis n. var., Santschi, 1929d: 313, worker) from Brazil, Paraná, Rio Negro - no images on Antweb (October 2014)
docilis (Prenolepis vividula Nyl. nov. subspec. docilis, Forel, 1908c: 402, worker) from Brazil, Sao Paulo, v. Ihering - no images on Antweb (October 2014)
mjobergi (Paratrechina (Nylanderia) vividula Nyl. v. Mjobergi n. var., Forel, 1908b: 64, worker) from Sweden, Stockholm hothouses; see Emery (1910a: 131) - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?name=usnment00753566.

Nylander's (1846a) description is at . Nylander (1856b) showed the antenna, in comparison with longicornis (as gracilescens), this is at Buckley's (1866) description of picea is at Forel's (1893g) description of antillana is at Wheeler's (1906e) description of kincaidi is at Forel's (1908c) description of docilis is at Emery (1910a: 130) gave an illustrated description, this is at Santschi's (1929d) description of australis is at

Note - the original description by Nylander was of specimens from a colony in hothouses in Helsinki, so the type location is mis-leading. Forel's (1908b: 64) note on var mjobergi has - "differs from type by its flatter alitrunk (less convex), with the metanotal groove a little more accentuated It is also a much darker brown, chestnut on the head and gaster; from hothouses in Stockholm". Emery (1910a) had the colour as red-gold to brown-gold, the gaster darker

Good images of all stages can be seen at www.hormigas.org

[The queen shown on Paratrechina natalensis is from South Africa appears to match all the details of P. vividula and extends the known distribution to that country and, thus, sub-Saharan Africa. The locale, however, presumably, has a Mediterranean type climate enabling a migrant species to become established.

LaPolla, Hawkes & Fisher (2011) state that vividula can be separated from by the number of erect hairs (they use macrosetae) on the antennal scape, claiming that vividula has less than 10 such erect hairs on each scape.  As shown below, that is not the case with workers from Egypt.  In all other details the Egypt specimens appear to match the vividula description. Lapolla et al., however, chose to illustrate their paper with a vividula specimen from the USA. The Egypt specimen quite clearly differs from those I show of P. jaegerskioleldi, and that also are from Egypt, together with sexuals, of which the male genitalia exactly match those they show (Figs 99 & 100).

Now (September 2015) I have workers from Iran (bottom) which also show numerous erect hairs on the scapes.

The photomontage of a paralectotype worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0102538

This specimen matches that I show (below) from Egypt.

The photomontage of a smaller paralectotype worker is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0102539

Oxford University Museum specimens

Paratrechina vividula B Taylor det.

Egypt M Sharaf

26.viii.2003 Port Said 31°16' N 32°18' E

Hand collected (three on one pin)

3

Egypt records - Paratrechina vividula - record in André (1882b: 204) [andre-hns99999.pdf; plate x, figs 8-10 & 12].
Sharaf list - Material examined: Khniza (Nubaria), 21.ix.2002 (9); Zaranik (North Sinai), 5.v.2003 (12)(SHC).
The photomontage is of workers from Egypt, Port Said; collector Mostafa Sharaf.

The photomontage is of the scapes of two workers from Egypt, Port Said; collector Mostafa Sharaf.

The photomontage is of a major worker from Iran, Azadi Park, Shiraz; collector Roshanak Torabi (19).

The photomontage is of a minor worker from Iran, Azadi Park, Shiraz; collector Roshanak Torabi (19).