A researcher from Córdoba identifies two new species of ants in Spain.

Córdoba, June 18 (EFE).- A researcher from the University of Córdoba (UCO) has identified two new species of ants in Spain following studies conducted in areas of the provinces of Jaén, Granada, and Huelva, including Doñana National Park.

The UCO (University of Cordoba) has explained in a statement that the nearly 300 species of ants found on the Iberian Peninsula have been expanded to two more thanks to the latest work of Joaquín Reyes López, a researcher from the Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology at the University of Córdoba. After analyzing various ant nests in the southern peninsula, he has identified new species that had not previously been described in Spain and Portugal.

To do this, he analyzed different samples using scanning electron microscopy, a technique that produces high-resolution, multidimensional images that allow for the observation of a large number of details.

The measurement and analysis of the different body parts and their comparison with others already present in Spain has allowed the identification of the two new species.

One of them, with a head wider than it is long, highly developed striations, small body size and light brown color, has been observed so far in the provinces of Jaén and Granada.

The other, even smaller, with softer stripes and short spines on its abdomen, is found in the province of Huelva, including Doñana National Park.

These two new species belong to the genus "Oxyopomyrmex," a group of ants very common in arid areas of the Mediterranean region.

Of these, two types were already known in Spain, so Reyes López's identification expands the Spanish family of Oxyopomyrmex from the two known species to four.

As researcher Reyes López explains, the study was conducted in the southern peninsula, so it's still possible to find these species in other areas, and even new ones.

The study, published in the journal Insects , delves deeper into the knowledge of the diversity and geographic distribution of ants in Spain and the biology and ecology of this specific type of ant, which finds a potentially favorable habitat in the southern part of the peninsula due to its arid and semi-arid climatic conditions. EFE

lor/fs