We have just found two new ants in Andalusia

The list of animal species that inhabit Spain has added two new names. And this time we are not talking about exotic species imported from a distant country but about the discovery of two new species of ants in Andalusia.

Two new species. He finding of the two new speciesboth belonging to the genre Oxyopomyrmexhas been in charge of the researcher at the University of Córdoba (UCO) Joaquín Reyes López. It’s about O. Arenarius and O. Pallensdiscovered thanks to specimens found in Jaén, Granada and Huelva (including Doñana National Park).

Genre ants Oxyopomyrmex They are classified within the subfamily of the mirmicinos (Myrmicinae). These, explains Reyes López himself, can be found in the arid areas of the Mediterranean basin, although it is a taxonomic group on which there is little information.

Until now we knew the presence of two species of this genus in Spain (O. Santschii and O. Saulcyi). This implies that the finding bends the number of species of this group known in the country. According to the University Through the EFE agencythe finding adds two new names to the list of about 300 species of ants that inhabit the Iberian Peninsula.

Oxyopomyrmex arenarius. According to Kings López explains himselfthe name of this new species is a reference to the fact that all its nests were found in sandy soils. This species, whose “type location” is the Biological Station of the Doñana, presents an oval head, and a coloration that goes from the dark brown of its head and abdomen to lighter tones in its joints.

Oxyopomyrmex Pallens. The color is precisely what gives name to the second of the described species, since it presents a more pale coloration, with light and yellowish brown tones in parts of the body of the insect. In this second case, the type town described by Reyes López is the Jienense municipality of Mures.

Electronic scanning microscopy. For analysis, Reyes López He turned to the scanning electronic microscopy, a technique with which he could closely study the morphological characteristics of these ants and compare them with the features of other similar species.

The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Insects.

By limiting the territory. As is logical, there is still little what we know about these ants. For example, the findings suggest that these species are typical of the south of the Peninsula, but there is the possibility that their habitat will extend beyond, so the discovery of new specimens can serve us to know in more detail the extension of the territory occupied by the new species.

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Image | Reyes López, 2025/Insects / Protoculture