A taxonomic revision of the ants subgenus Coptoformica Mueller, 1923 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

A total of 3800 specimens of the ant subgenus Coptoformica from the whole Palaearctic was studied, 2800 specimens of which were evaluated morphometrically giving 22000 primary data. Comments on allometries and on the taxonomic significance of characters are given. Keys and comparative tables of morphometric characters include workers, females, and males. Out of 28 taxa described from this region up to the present, 15 taxa are synonymised while 11 taxa are demonstrated as good species by high-precision stereomicroscopy, chorology, and comparative biology. Two taxa remain as incertae sedis. Taxonomic changes to systems previously used include the demonstration of the different species identity of Formica foreli Emery, 1909 and F. pressilabris Nylander, 1846, the synonymisation of F. goesswaldi Kutter, 1967, F. naefi Kutter, 1957, and F. tamarae Dlussky, 1964 with F. foreli, the synonymisation of F. brunneonitida Dlussky, 1964 and of F. fossilabris Dlussky, 1964 with F. forsslundi Lohmander, 1949, the synonymisation of F. dlusskyi Bolton, 1995 with F. manchu Wheeler, 1929, the synonymisation of F. nemoralis Dlussky, 1964 with F. exsecta Nylander, 1846, and the description of F. fennica n. sp. from South of the Finland and the Caucasus. Proximities to the Asian species F. manchu Wheeler, 1929 point to a Siberian origin of F. fennica. The synonymisation of the taxon etrusca Emery, 1909 with exsecta and the treating of the taxon mesasiatica Dlussky, 1964 as endemic Middle Asian species separate from exsecta are doubtful decisions that should be checked by future revisors with more extensive and more adequate approaches.