A Taxonomy Study On Genera Crematogaster And Myrmica From China (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae)

The Formicidae is a large family in the class insects, with more than 10,000 known species. The family of Formicidae is widely distributed, and its total number is estimated to surpass that of all other animal groups together. It is closely relative to the production and life of human being, and of extremely vital economic significance to human. The taxonomic study on the Formicidae in China was mainly from overseas scholars'fragmentary reports before. Domestic scholars just started this research in the past twenty years, and far behind the international level.The Myrmicinae is the largest subfamily in the family Formicidae, and the genus Crematogaster is a large genus in the subfamily Myrmicinae and distributes all over the world. Myrmica is also a large genus in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it is mainly distributed in neoarcitic region, palearctic region and oriental region. Earlier scientists have recorded several species of these two genera in their research paper, however, none has ever taken a complete and systematic investigation on the taxonomy of two genera. In view of such situation, under guidance from Pro. Shanyi Zhou, I carried out a systematic study on the taxonomy of genera Crematogaster and Myrmica in China, as the research paper for master degree.During the research work, I collected samples on field myself and also used various types of samples collected by Pro.Shanyi Zhou, Dr Huang and classmates for the past many years. On the basis of these specimens, I conducted a careful morphological identification. A total of 31 species of the genus Crematogaster and 25 species of the genus Myrmica were recognized and described in this paper, which includes 3 new species to science and 4 new record species in China. Meanwhile, it also listed synonym of every species. All of the species were described completely. There new species are:Crematogaster punctata sp.nov., Myrmica changbaishanensis sp.nov., Myrmica subdraco sp.nov.. Four new record species are: Myrmica edimanni Menozzi, Myrmica kotokui Forel, Myrmica taediosa Bolton, Myrmica luteola Kupyanskaya. In addition to the description of research results, this paper also reviews the taxonomic state and system, taxonomic history, research material and methods, external shape, biology and economic importance.All type specimens stated in the study are preserved in the Insect Collection of College of Life Science, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.