Ant diversity on the largest Mediterranean islands: on the presence or absence of 28 species in Sicily (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Author Schifani, Enrico Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability (SCVSA), University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11 / A, I- 43124 Parma, Italia. enrico.schifani@unipr.it Author Csősz, SÁndor MTA-ELTE-MTM, Ecology Research Group, PÁzmÁny Péter sétÁny 1 C, H- 1117 Budapest, Hungary. & Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Centre for Ecological Research, AlkotmÁny út 2 - 4, H- 2163 VÁcrÁtót, Hungary. Author Viviano, Roberto Via Michele Cipolla 106, I- 90123 Palermo, Italia. Author Alicata, Antonio Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (DBGES), University of Catania, Via Androne 81, I- 95124 Catania, Italia. text Natural History Sciences 2021 2021-05-28 8 1 55 70 http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/nhs.2021.532 journal article 10.4081/nhs.2021.532 2385-0922 12753989 7. Lasius (Lasius) niger (Linnaeus 1758) As in the case of L. alienus described above, the nature of L. niger has been the subject of severe confusion over the decades and was finally clarified about 30 years ago (Seifert 1991; 1992; 2020a). As a result, records from Baroni Urbani (1964a) should be considered unreliable (even more so since they refer to a ‘transitional form’ between L. alienus and L. niger ). The only recent Sicilian records of L. niger were published by Li Vigni (2014); however, they were based on misidentified specimens of L. casevitzi (F. Rigato, pers. comm.). We believe L. casevitzi to be a possible candidate of past confusion with L. niger in Italy : despite being closely related to L. paralienus Seifert, 1992, which has historically been confused with L. alienus and not with L. niger , L. casevitzi possess a higher number of erect setae on various key areas resembling L. niger . Overall, L. niger is a Palearctic species not particularly frequent in the Mediterranean, sometimes existing in isolated introduced populations (Seifert, 2018; 2020a), and its whole distribution in Italy should be revised.