Nesomyrmex sikorai species-group was assessed via hypothesis-free nest-centroid-clustering combined with recursive partitioning to estimate the number of morphological clusters and determine the most probable boundaries between them. This combination of methods provides a highly automated and objective species delineation protocol based on continuous morphometric data. Delimitations of clusters recognized by these exploratory analyses were tested via confirmatory Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Multivariate Ratio Analysis (MRA). The final species hypotheses are corroborated by many qualitative characters, and the recognized species exhibit different spatial distributions and occupy different ecological regions. We describe and redescribe eight morphologically distinct species including six new species: Nesomyrmex excelsiorsp. n., N. modestussp. n., N. reticulatussp. n., N. retusispinosus , N. rugosussp. n., N. sikorai , N. striatussp. n., and N. tamatavensissp. n. An identification key for their worker castes using morphometric data is provided.Madagascar is one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots, meriting special attention from biodiversity scientists. It is an excellent testing ground for novel techniques in taxonomy that aim to increase classification objectivity and yield greater taxonomic resolving power. Here we reveal the diversity of a unique and largely unexplored fragment of the Malagasy ant fauna using an advanced combination of exploratory analyses on quantitative morphological data allowing for increased objectivity in taxonomic workflow. The diversity of the  The main objective of taxonomy is to document the diversity of flora and fauna. It provides fundamental information for endeavors dealing with biodiversity by addressing a crucial question: “how many species are there?” Unfortunately, the rapidly accelerating rate of biodiversity loss we face today , 2 posesIn recent years a number of promising new algorithmic approaches has been developed and introduced in insect taxonomy for the purpose of recognizing complex patterns in continuous morphometric data –7. TheseNesomyrmex sikorai group is inferred via a highly automated protocol involving a fusion of two algorithms, Nest Centroid clustering  .CW: Maximum width of the head including compound eyes, [R = 0.999] .CWb: Maximum width of head capsule without the compound eyes. Measured just posterior to the eyes, [R = 0.998] .PoOC: Postocular distance. Use a cross-scaled ocular micrometer and adjust the head to the measuring position of CL. Caudal measuring point: median occipital margin; anterior measuring point: median head at the level of the posterior eye margin, [R = 0.997] .SL: Scape length. Maximum straight line scape length excluding the basal neck and the articular condyle, [R = 0.998] .CS: Absolute cephalic size. The arithmetic mean of CL and CWb.EL: Maximum diameter of the compound eye, [R = 0.929].FRS: Frontal carina distance. Distance of the frontal carinae immediately caudal of the posterior intersection points between frontal carinae and torular lamellae. If these dorsal lamellae do not laterally surpass the frontal carinae, the deepest point of scape corner pits may be taken as the reference line. These pits take up the inner corner of the scape base when the scape is directed fully caudally and produces a dark, triangular shadow in the lateral frontal lobes immediately posterior to the dorsal lamellae of the scape joint capsule, [R = 0.982] .MW: Mesosoma width. In workers MW is defined as the longest width of the pronotum in dorsal view excluding the pronotal spines, [R = 0.998] .PSTI: Apical distance of pronotal spines in dorsal view; if spine tips are rounded or thick take the centers of spine tips as reference points, [R = 0.994] .PEW: Maximum width of petiole in dorsal view. Nodal spines are not considered, [R = 0.996] .PPW: Postpetiole width. Maximum width of postpetiole in dorsal view, [R = 0.994] .SPBA: Minimum propodeal spine distance. The smallest distance of the lateral margins of the propodeal spines at their base. This should be measured in antero-dorsal view, since the wider parts of the ventral propodeum do not interfere with the measurement in this position. If the lateral margins of propodeal spines diverge continuously from the tip to the base, a smallest distance at base is not defined. In this case, SPBA is measured at the level of the bottom of the interspinal meniscus, [R = 0.993] .SPTI: Apical propodeal spine distance. The distance of propodeal spine tips in dorsal view; if spine tips are rounded or truncated, the centers of spine tips are taken as reference points, [R = 0.994] .ML (Weber’s length): Mesosoma length from caudalmost point of propodeal lobe to transition point between anterior pronotal slope and anterior pronotal shield , [R = 0.998] .MPST: Maximum distance from the center of the propodeal spiracle to the posteroventral corner of the ventrolateral margin of the metapleuron, [R = 0.989] .NOH: Maximum height of the petiolar node, measured in lateral view from the uppermost point of the petiolar node perpendicular to a reference line set from the petiolar spiracle to the imaginary midpoint of the transition between the dorso-caudal slope and dorsal profile of caudal cylinder of the petiole, [R = 0.958] .NOL: Length of the petiolar node. Measured in lateral view from the center of the petiolar spiracle to the dorso-caudal corner of caudal cylinder. Do not erroneously take as the reference point the dorso-caudal corner of the helcium, which is sometimes visible, [R = 0.981] .PPL: Postpetiole length. The longest anatomical line that is perpendicular to the posterior margin of the postpetiole and is between the posterior postpetiolar margin and the anterior postpetiolar margin, [R = 0.975] .SPST: Propodeal spine length. Distance between the center of the propodeal spiracle and spine tip. The spiracle center refers to the midpoint defined by the outer cuticular ring but not to the center of the actual spiracle opening, which may be positioned eccentrically, [R = 0.994] .PEH: Maximum petiole height. The longest distance measured from the ventral petiolar profile at node level (perpendicular to the chord length of the petiolar sternum) to the distalmost point of the dorsal profile of the petiolar node, [R = 0.989] .PEL: Diagonal petiolar length in lateral view; measured from anterior corner of subpetiolar process to dorso-caudal corner of caudal cylinder, [R = 0.991] .PPH: Maximum height of the postpetiole in lateral view measured perpendicularly to a line defined by the linear section of the segment border between postpetiolar tergite and sternite, [R = 0.991] .http://purl.org/NET/mx-database). Taxonomic history and descriptions of taxonomic treatments were rendered from this software. Hymenoptera-specific terminology of morphological statements used in descriptions, the identification key, and diagnoses are mapped to classes in phenotype-relevant ontologies (Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology (HAO)  we we12] weNest-centroid clustering (NC-clustering), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) do not require special data preparation (e.g. standardization), hence raw data were applied for each of the statistical analyses. Data, however, are standardized  for the multivariate ratio analysis (MRA) to prevent variables that are larger from dominating the analysis . Variablcluster , petiolar node longer: NOH/CS 0.3 > … 2Scapes very short: SL/CS < 0.73 , petiolar node very short: NOL/CS < 0.3 … N. reticulatus sp. n.-Propodeal spines triangular, acute, and shorter: SPST/CS < 0.36 … 4Propodeal spines curving downward, blunt, and very long: SPST/CS > 0.36 … 3N. retusispinosus -N. tamatavensis sp. n.Vertex smooth, main sculpture absent, ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate, shiny. In full-face view, compound eyes positioned in the middle of the longitudinal axis of head or closer to the posterior occipital border: PoOC/CL < 0.455 … Vertex rugose, ground sculpture areolate, dull. In full-face view, compound eyes positioned forward and closer to the anterior clypeal border: PoOC/CL > 0.455 … -Workers yellow to light brown. Eyes non-protuberant in full-face view: CW/ML: < 0.73 ,  … 7Black species. Eyes protuberant in full-face view: CW/ML: > 0.73 ,  … 5N. modestus sp. n.-Main sculpture on vertex and on the dorsum of mesosoma present and coarse areolate or costate, ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate or absent. Eyes strongly protuberant in full-face view: CL/CW < 1.09  … 6Main sculpture on vertex and on the dorsum of mesosoma inconspicuously areolate or absent partly, ground sculpture smooth and shiny. Eyes moderately protuberant in full-face view: CL/CW > 1.09  … N. sikorai -N. striatus sp. n.Main sculpture on vertex longitudinal costate, ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate. Dorsum of petiolar node smooth and shiny. The best morphometric ratio PSTI/SPTI > 2.5  … Main sculpture on vertex coarse areolate, ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate. Dorsum of petiolar node rugoso-reticulate, dull. The best morphometric ratio PSTI/SPTI ≤ 2.5  … N. excelsior sp. n.-N. rugosus sp. n.Postpetiole shorter, anterolateral angles of mesosoma widely distant: PSTI/PPW 1.84 , . Occurs on lower elevations < 500 m. … Postpetiole longer, anterolateral angles of mesosoma less distant: PSTI/PPW > 1.84 , . Occurs on higher ground > 500 m. … N. sikorai species-group are described including biogeographic information. The basic statistics of body size ratios are given in In this section, eight species of the urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:540D306B-7EAC-4AD9-B072-842AC26F91F7Figs .Holotype worker: MADGAGASCAR: Prov. Toliara, Forêt Classée d'Analavelona, 29.2 km 343° NNW Mahaboboka, Madagascar, 1100 m, -22.675 N, 44.19 E, 18.ii.2003, collection code: BLF07826; CASENT0498265, Fisher et al., ex dead twig above ground montane rainforest ;Paratypes: 8 workers and a single gyne with the same label data with the holotype under CASENT codes: CASENT0763558, BLF07826, ; CASENT0498263, BLF07826, ; CASENT0498264, BLF07826, ; CASENT0498266, BLF07826, ;The list of 83 worker individuals belonging to 58 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: yellow; brown. Body color pattern: Body concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 726 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.281 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.457 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight; feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture rugoso-reticulate, ground sculpture smooth. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Genae contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with feeble areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen count: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.233 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.289 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons count: present. Smooth median region on frons count: absent. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.822 . Median clypeal notch count: present. Median carina of clypeus count: absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.275 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.225 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.252 . Propodeal spine shape: straight; triangular, blunt. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.607 . Metanotal depression count: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: rugose with smooth ground sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: inconspicuously areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Mesopleuron sculpture: smooth ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.233 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.354 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture dispersed rugose.The name  refers to the typically montane occurrence of this species.This species is known to occur in smaller, isolated montane rainforests between elevation of 520 m and 1325 m (mean: 1007 m) in the western and central part of Madagascar .urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A8B6069A-2FD3-4CEA-AC0D-DB36127037B0Figs .Holotype worker: MADGAGASCAR: Prov. Toliara, Anosy Region, Anosyenne Mts, 29.33 km NW Manantenina, Madagascar, 540 m, -24.13993 N, 47.07418 E, 21.ii.2015, collection code: BLF36218; CASENT0393175, B.L.Fisher, F.A.Esteves et al. ;Paratypes: 13 workers with the same label data with the holotype under CASENT codes: CASENT0393167, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393168, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393169, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393170, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393171, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393172, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393173, BLF36224, ; CASENT0393176, BLF36218, ; CASENT0393177, BLF36218, ; CASENT0393178, BLF36218, ; CASENT0393179, BLF36218, ; CASENT0393180, BLF36218, ; CASENT0393181, BLF36218, ;The list of 18 worker individuals belonging to 18 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: black. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 796 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.216 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.453 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight; feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture areolate, ground sculpture smooth. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Gena contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with feeble areolate ground sculpture; rugoso-reticulate with areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.234 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.295 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons count: present. Smooth median region on frons count: present. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.771 . Median clypeal notch: present. Median carina of clypeus count: absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.236 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.236 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.251 . Propodeal spine shape: triangular, blunt. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.657 . Metanotal depression count: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: smooth ground sculpture superimposed by feeble areolate main sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: inconspicuous areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture dispersed costate. Mesopleuron sculpture: smooth ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: fine areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.223 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture absent. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.341 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture absent.The name (modestus = moderate) refers to the moderately coarse surface sculpturing of this species.This species is known to occur in rainforests between elevation of 520 m and 1325 m (mean: 514 m) in the southwestern part of Madagascar .urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3E5E26A6-6795-45AA-A051-2AFDAF57E6E5Figs .Holotype worker: MADGAGASCAR: Prov. Toliara, Forêt de Kirindy, 15.5 km 64° ENE Marofandilia, 100 m, -20.045 N, 44.66222 E, 28.xi.2001, collection code: BLF04604; CASENT0418497, Fisher-Griswold Arthropod Team, beating low vegetation tropical dry forest ;Paratypes: 3 workers and a gyne with the same label data with the holotype under CASENT codes: CASENT0473935, BLF04605, ; CASENT0418443, BLF04604, ; CASENT0418447, BLF04604, ; CASENT0418482, BLF04604, ;The list of 7 worker individuals belonging to 7 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: yellow; brown. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 511 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.151 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.462 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: strongly convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: slightly concave. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture homogeneously forked costate, ground sculpture areolate. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Gena contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.238 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.322 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons: absent. Smooth median region on frons count: absent. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.704 . Median clypeal notch: present. Median carina of clypeus: absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.236 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.254 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.267 . Propodeal spine shape: straight; triangular, blunt. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.629 . Metanotal depression: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugae. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture dispersed costate. Mesopleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.235 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture absent. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.37 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture absent.The name refers to the fine, micro-reticulate body sculpturing.This species is known to occur in dry forests in lowlands between 50 m and 130 m (mean: 94 m) of the western and southern coasts of Madagascar .Figs .Holotype worker: “L. retusispinosus, type, Forel, For d' andrangoloaca , Madagascar (Sikora)”, ;The list of 9 worker individuals belonging to 9 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: yellow; brown. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 812 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.17 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.483 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight; feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture rugoso-reticulate, ground sculpture areolate. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Gena contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.237 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.294 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons: present. Smooth median region on frons: absent. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.838 . Median clypeal notch: present. Median carina of clypeus: present or absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.43 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.24 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.322 . Propodeal spine shape: slightly or strongly bent. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.659 . Metanotal depression: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: rugulose with areolate ground sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Mesopleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugae. Metapleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.24 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture dispersed rugose. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.39 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture dispersed rugose.This species is known to occur in rain forests and montane forests in lowlands between 918 m and 1080 m in central Madagascar .urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C39EB560-EC60-4720-B6D8-95CE88C75A4DFigs .Holotype worker: MADGAGASCAR: Prov. Antsisarana, Masoala National Park, 250 m, -15.33058 N, 50.30279 E, 13.iii.2014, collection code: BLF33157; CASENT0374465, Fisher et al. ;Paratypes: 2 workers, a gyne and a male with the same label data with the holotype under CASENT codes: CASENT763560, BLF33157, , CASENT0374466, BLF33157, ; CASENT0377059, BLF32874, ;The list of 24 worker individuals belonging to 23 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: yellow to brown. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 747 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.239 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.467 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight or feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture rugoso-reticulate, ground sculpture smooth. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Genae contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with feeble areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.226 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.292 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons: present. Smooth median region on frons: absent. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.816 . Median clypeal notch count: present. Median carina of clypeus: absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.288 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.221 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.257 . Propodeal spine shape: straight. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.635 . Metanotal depression: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: rugose with smooth ground sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: inconspicuously areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Mesopleuron sculpture: smooth ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.231 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate, main sculpture rogoso-reticulate. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.345 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture dispersed rugose.The name refers to the coarse, rugose body sculpturing.This species is known to occur in rainforests between elevation of 200 m and 520 m (mean: 390 m) of the eastern and southern coasts of Madagascar .Figs .Holotype worker: “Leptothorax sikorai n. sp., Imerina , Sikora” TYPUS . Note: the type was not available for morphometric investigation; high-quality AntWeb images were used for comparison.The list of 36 worker individuals belonging to 28 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: black. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 822 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.169 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.488 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: strongly convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight to feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture areolate, ground sculpture areolate. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Gena contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.212 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.292 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons: present. Smooth median region on frons: absent. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.828 . Median clypeal notch: present. Median carina of clypeus: present or absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.269 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.253 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.299 . Propodeal spine shape: straight; triangular, blunt. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.665 . Metanotal depression: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: areolate main sculpture, interstices areolate. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture areolate. Mesopleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugae. Metapleuron sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by coarse rugae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.269 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture areolate, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.37 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture absent.This species is known to occur in montane rainforests between elevations of 200 m and 520 m in central Madagascar .urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:538BA1CB-262A-492E-86E5-035513668BE9Figs .Holotype worker: MADGAGASCAR: Prov. Toliara, Anosy Region, Anosyenne Mts., 31.2 km NW Manantenina, 1125 m, -24.13894 N, 47.06804 E, 26.ii.2015, collection code: BLF36533; CASENT0393121, Fisher et al. ;Paratypes: 5 workers and a male with the same label data with the holotype under CASENT codes: CASENT0393116, BLF36533, ; CASENT0393117, BLF36533, ; CASENT0393118, BLF36533, ; CASENT0393119, BLF36533, ; CASENT0393120, BLF36533, ;The list of 9 worker individuals belonging to 9 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: black. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 842 μm . Cephalic length vs. Maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.155 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.460 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight to feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture parallel costate, ground sculpture smooth. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Gena contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with feeble areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.219 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.288 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons: present. Smooth median region on frons: present. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.794 . Median clypeal notch count: present. Median carina of clypeus: absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.241 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.242 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.244 . Propodeal spine shape: curving upward. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.666 . Metanotal depression: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: costate with smooth ground sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture areolate. Mesopleuron sculpture: smooth ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: fine areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by coarse rugae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.243 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture absent. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.362 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture absent.The name refers to the coarse, striate/costate surface sculpturing on the head and mesosoma.This species is known to occur in montane rainforests between elevations of 900 m and 1125 m (mean: 1054 m) of the southeastern part of Madagascar .urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A67F58B6-502A-4798-B638-6FB35C78BD27Figs .Holotype worker: MADGAGASCAR: Prov. Toamasina, Montagne d'Akirindro 7.6 km 341° NNW Ambinanitelo, 600 m, -15.28833 N, 49.54833 E, 17.iii.2003, collection code: BLF8390; CASENT0496292, Fisher et al., ex dead twig above ground, rainforest ;Paratypes: 5 workers and a male with the same label data with the holotype with CASENT codes: CASENT0763559, BLF8390, ; CASENT0496293, BLF8390, ; CASENT0496294, BLF8390, ; CASENT0496295, BLF8390, ;The list of 41 worker individuals belonging to 32 nest samples morphometrically investigated is given in See in key.Body color: yellow to brown. Body color pattern: concolorous. Absolute cephalic size: 699 μm . Cephalic length vs. maximum width of head capsule (CL/CWb): 1.155 . Postocular distance vs. cephalic length (PoOc/CL): 0.433 . Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view orientation: converging posteriorly. Postocular sides of cranium contour, anterior view shape: convex. Vertex contour line in anterior view shape: straight to feebly convex. Vertex sculpture: main sculpture inconspicuous, ground sculpture smooth. Gena contour line in anterior view shape: convex. Gena contour from anterior view orientation: strongly converging. Gena sculpture: rugoso-reticulate with feeble areolate ground sculpture. Concentric carinae laterally surrounding antennal foramen: present. Eye length vs. absolute cephalic size (EL/CS): 0.258 . Frontal carina distance vs. absolute cephalic size (FRS/CS): 0.329 . Longitudinal carinae on median region of frons: present or absent. Smooth median region on frons: present. Antennomere count: 12. Scape length vs. absolute cephalic size (SL/CS): 0.798 . Median clypeal notch: present. Median carina of clypeus: absent. Spine length vs. absolute cephalic size (SPST/CS): 0.388 . Minimum spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPBA/CS): 0.244 . Apical spine distance vs. absolute cephalic size (SPTI/CS): 0.303 . Propodeal spine shape: strongly bent. Apical distance of pronotal spines vs. absolute cephalic size (PSTI/CS): 0.739 . Metanotal depression: present. Dorsal region of mesosoma sculpture: rugose with smooth ground sculpture. Lateral region of pronotum sculpture: inconspicuously areolate ground sculpture, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Mesopleuron sculpture: smooth ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Metapleuron sculpture: fine areolate ground sculpture, superimposed by dispersed rugulae. Petiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PEW/CS): 0.243 . Dorsal region of petiole sculpture: ground sculpture inconspicuously areolate, main sculpture rugoso-reticulate. Postpetiole width vs. absolute cephalic size (PPW/CS): 0.363 . Dorsal region of postpetiole sculpture: ground sculpture smooth, main sculpture dispersed rugose.Tamatave is the French name of Toamasina, the capital of the Atsinanana region, where this species is abundant.This species is known to occur in rainforests from sea level to 1100 m predominantly in the northeastern part of Madagascar . The onlS1 Appendix(NEX)Click here for additional data file.S2 AppendixMark dendrogram function mapping the results of partitioning algorithm PART on the dendrogram is also added.(TXT)Click here for additional data file.S1 TableUnique CASENT number for pinned samples, locality, geographic coordinates  in decimal format, altitude (ALT) in meters a.s.l., collector’s name, date and number of specimens investigated bearing the given CASENT number are provided. HT = Holotype, PT = paratype(s). All samples collected in Toliara administrative region, Madagascar, and deposited at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS).(XLSX)Click here for additional data file.S2 Table(DOCX)Click here for additional data file.S3 TableCASENT code (casent), final species hypothesis (species), geographic coordinates  and the name format as samples appear on the dendrogram (dendro-name) are also provided in the table. HT = Holotype, PT = paratype(s).(CSV)Click here for additional data file.


Caenorhabditis elegans Fast Bioassay. PLoS ONE 10(6): e0128898. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0128898. The publisher apologizes for this error.The third author’s name is spelled incorrectly. The correct name is: Lucila Ines Buzzi. The correct citation is: Bianchi JI, Stockert JC, Buzzi LI, Blázquez-Castro A, Simonetta SH (2015) Reliable Screening of Dye Phototoxicity by Using a


Aging (Albany NY) 2015; 8(3): 521-538.PMCID: PMC 833143 PMID: 26946062http://www.impactaging.com/papers/v8/n3/pdf/100913.pdf. The correct corresponding authors are provided here:In this Article, the information on corresponding author is wrong: wdzhangy@hotmail.com; shanleicn@126.comCorrespondence: Weidong Zhang, PhD; Lei Shan, PhD; E-mail:


Service, imaging, open source, archive, image sharing, clinical trials.http://www.xnat.org) ; documentation of RSNA CTP [http://mircwiki.rsna.org/index.php?title=CTP_Articles].Documentation and links to both XNAT instances and Puppet installation scripts [


Drosophila Microbiota Modulates Host Metabolic Gene Expression via IMD/NF-κB Signaling. PLoS ONE 9(4): e94729. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0094729The abbreviation of the first author’s name is incorrect in the citation. The correct abbreviation is: Erkosar B. The correct citation is: Erkosar B, Defaye A, Bozonnet N, Puthier D, Royet J, et al. (2014)


Eucalyptus Subgenus Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae) Are a Rich Source of Flavonoids and Related Non-Volatile Constituents. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151432. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151432The second author’s last name is spelled incorrectly. The correct name is: Samiddhi L. Senaratne. The correct citation is: Goodger JQD, Senaratne SL, Nicolle D, Woodrow IE (2016) Foliar Essential Oil Glands of


Nature Communications7: Article number: 11311 10.1038/ncomms11311 (2016); Published: 04182016; Updated: 06032016The author Yueh-Hsiung Kuo was incorrectly omitted from the list of corresponding authors in this Article. The correct information for correspondence is: ‘Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Y.-H.K. kuoyh@mail.cmu.edu.tw) or to N.S.Y. nsyang@gate.sinica.edu.tw)'.


Nature Communications7: Article number: 1211210.1038/ncomms12112 (2016); Published: 06292016; Updated: 08032016.The present address for Ioana C. Gârlea is incorrect in this Article. The correct present address for this author is given below:Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Boltzmanngasse 5, A-1090 Vienna, Austria.The name of this author is also incorrect in the ‘How to cite this article' section. This section should read:et al. Finite particle size drives defect-mediated domain structures in strongly confined colloidal liquid crystals. Nat. Commun. 7:12112 doi: 10.1038/ncomms12112 (2016).Gârlea, I. C.


Determining the evolutionary relationships among the major lineages of extant birds has been one of the biggest challenges in systematic biology. To address this challenge, we assembled or collected the genomes of 48 avian species spanning most orders of birds, including all Neognathae and two of the five Palaeognathae orders. We used these genomes to construct a genome-scale avian phylogenetic tree and perform comparative genomic analyses.Here we present the datasets associated with the phylogenomic analyses, which include sequence alignment files consisting of nucleotides, amino acids, indels, and transposable elements, as well as tree files containing gene trees and species trees. Inferring an accurate phylogeny required generating: 1) A well annotated data set across species based on genome synteny; 2) Alignments with unaligned or incorrectly overaligned sequences filtered out; and 3) Diverse data sets, including genes and their inferred trees, indels, and transposable elements. Our total evidence nucleotide tree (TENT) data set  gave what we consider our most reliable species tree when using the concatenation-based ExaML algorithm or when using statistical binning with the coalescence-based MP-EST algorithm (which we refer to as MP-EST*). Other data sets, such as the coding sequence of some exons, revealed other properties of genome evolution, namely convergence.The Avian Phylogenomics Project is the largest vertebrate phylogenomics project to date that we are aware of. The sequence, alignment, and tree data are expected to accelerate analyses in phylogenomics and other related areas.The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13742-014-0038-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Here we present FASTA files of loci, sequence alignments, indels, transposable elements, and Newick files of gene trees and species trees used in the Avian Phylogenomics Project -4. We alHere we describe each locus data set in brief. Additional details are provided in Jarvis et al. .This is an exon-coding sequence data set of 8295 genes based on synteny-defined orthologs we identified and selected from the assembled genomes of chicken and zebra finch [These are alignments of the translated peptide sequences for the 8295 protein-coding gene data set.This is an orthologous subset of introns from the 8295 protein-coding genes among 52 species (includes outgroups). Introns with conserved annotated exon-intron boundaries between chicken and another species (±1 codon) were chosen. We filtered out introns with length < 50 bp or intron length ratio > 1.5 between chicken and another species or another species and chicken. This filtering resulted in a conservative subset of introns that could be reliably identified and aligned.This is the ultraconserved element (UCE) data set with 1000 bp flanking sequence at the 3′ and 5′ ends. The UCE dataset was filtered to remove overlap with the above exon and intron data sets, other exons and introns in the chicken genome assembly version 3, and overlapping sequences among the UCEs. The source UCE sequences used to search the genomes were determined from sequence capture probes  aligned These four data sets represent the 10% subsets of the 8295 exons and their associated introns when available (i.e. from the same genes) that had the highest and lowest variance in GC3 (third codon position) content across species. To calculate GC3 variance, we first calculated GC3 for each ortholog in each species, and then we used the correlation coefficient R to calculate variance in GC3 for each species. Orthologs were ranked by their GC3 variance and we selected the top and bottom 10% for analyses.These are the concatenated sets of loci from various partitions of the TENT dataset , brought together using the statistical binning approach. The statistical binning approach put together sets of loci that were deemed “combinable”. Two genes were considered combinable if their respective gene trees had no pairs of incompatible branches that had bootstrap support above a 50% threshold. Alignments of genes in the same bin were concatenated to form supergenes, but boundaries of genes were kept so that a gene-partitioned phylogenetic analysis could be performed on each supergene.http://www.bx.psu.edu/miller_lab/) across all 48 bird species and outgroups using individual chromosomes of the chicken genome as the reference . They were filtered for segments with fewer than 42 avian species (>5 missing bird species) and aberrant sequence alignments. The individual remaining segments of the MULTIZ alignment were realigned with MAFFT. We did not use SATé + MAFFT due to computational challenges (too much input/output was required).Whole genome alignments were first created by a LASTZ + MULTIZ alignment ,14 (http5.7 million insertions and deletions (indels) were scored as binary characters locus by locus from the same intron, exon, and UCE alignments as used in the TENT data set on the principle of simple indel coding using 2Xread ,16 and tThese are 61 manually curated presence/absence loci of transposable elements (TEs) present in the Barn Owl genome that exhibit presence at orthologous positions in one or more of the other avian species. The TE markers were identified by eye after a computational screening of 3,671 TguLTR5d retroposon insertions from the Barn Owl. For each TguLTR5d locus, we conducted BLASTn searches of TE-flanking sequences (1 kb per flank) against the remaining avian species and generated multispecies sequence alignments using MAFFT . RedundaWe provide the above loci data sets as FASTA files of both unfiltered and filtered sequence alignments. The alignments were filtered for aberrant over- and under-aligned sequences, and for the presence of the loci in 42 of the 48 avian species. All multiple sequence alignments were performed in two rounds. The first round was used to find contiguous portions of sequences that we identified as aberrant, and the second round was used to realign the filtered sequences. We used SATé ,23 combiThese are filtered alignments of exons from 8295 genes. Of these 8295, there were 42 genes that were identified to have annotation issues and we removed them from the phylogenetic analyses . Two more genes were removed because a gene tree could not be estimated for them. The first round of alignment was performed using SATé + PRANK, and the second round was performed using SATé + MAFFT. Before alignment, the nucleotide sequences were converted to amino acid sequences, and then reverted back to nucleotide sequences afterwards.42-exon-genes-removed.txt: list of 42 genes removed due to various issuespep2cds-filtered-sate-alignments-noout.tar.gz: DNA alignments  without outgroupspep2cds-filtered-sate-alignments-original.zip: DNA alignments  with outgroups included8295 Exonspep-filtered-sate-alignments-noout.tar.gz: Amino acid alignments with outgroups removedpep-filtered-sate-alignments-original.zip: Amino acid alignments with outgroups included8295 Amino AcidsThese are filtered alignments of introns from 2516 genes. Both rounds of alignment were performed using SATé + MAFFT, because SATé + PRANK was too computationally expensive on long introns.introns-filtered-sate-alignments-with-and-without-outgroups.tar.gz: Includes both alignments with and without outgroups2516 IntronsThese are alignments of UCEs and their surrounding 1000 bp from 3769 loci after filtering. Both rounds of alignment were performed using SATé + MAFFT.uce-probes-used.fasta.gz: Probes targeting UCE loci shared among vertebrate taxa.uce-raw-genome-slices-of-probe-matches.tar: Probe + flank slices around locations matching probes targeting UCE loci.uce-raw-lastz-results-of-probe-matches.tar: LASTZ results of mapping probes onto genome assemblies.uce-assembled-loci-from-probe-matches.tar: UCE loci assembled from probe + flank slices from each genome.uce-filtered-alignments-w-gator.tar.gz: UCE individual alignments without outgroupsuce-filtered-alignments-without-gator.tar.gz: UCE individual alignments with outgroups3769 UCE + 1000 flanking bpsupergene-alignments.tar.bz2: supergene alignments with partition files showing genes put in each bin and their boundaries in the concatenated alignmentThese are concatenated alignments for each of our 2022 supergene alignments. We note that although supergenes are concatenated loci, we estimated supergene trees using partitioned analyses where each gene was put in a different partition. Thus, we also provide the boundaries between genes in text files (these can be directly used as partition input files to RAxML).These are individual loci alignments of the above data sets, before filtering.pep-unfiltered-alignments-original.zip: unfiltered SATé + Prank alignments used for the filtering stepAmino.Acid.unfilteredpep2cds-unfiltered-alignemtns-original.zip: unfiltered SATé + Prank alignments used for the filtering stepExon.c123.unfiltered:introns-unfiltered-alignments-original.zip: intron SATé alignments before filtering with outgroups includedintrons-unfiltered-alignments-noout.zip: intron SATé alignments before filtering with outgroups includedIntron.unfiltereduce-unfiltered-alignments-w-gator.tar.gz: UCE alignments before filtering with alligator outgroupUCE.unfilteredhttps://github.com/gigascience/paper-zhang2014.These are uploaded as part of the comparative genomics paper  data notWGT.unfilteredWe provide FASTA files of concatenated sequence alignments of the above filtered loci datasets. These are concatenated alignments that were used in the ExaML and RAxML analyses .Exon.AminoAcid.ExaML.partitionedExon.c123. ExaML.partitionedExon.c123. ExaML.unpartitionedExon.c1.ExaML.unpartitionedExon.c2.ExaML.unpartitionedExon.c12.ExaML.unpartitionedExon.c123-RY.ExaML.unpartitionedExon.c3.ExaML.unpartitionedIntronTEIT.RAxMLTENT + c3.ExaMLTENT + outgroup.ExaMLTENT.ExaML.100%TENT.ExaML.25%TENT.ExaML.50%TENT.ExaML.75%WGT.ExaMLuce-filtered-alignments-w-gator-concatenated.phylip.gzuce-filtered-alignments-without-gator-concatenated.phylip.gzUCE concatenated alignments with and without the alligatorc12.DNA.alignment.1156.clocklike.zipc12.DNA.alignment.1156.clocklike.txtc12.DNA.alignment.clocklike.readme.txtc12.DNA.alignment.clocklike.txt.zipConcatenated c12 (1st + 2nd codons) DNA sequence alignments from the 1156 clocklike genes were used for the dating analyses. These are alignments of the first and second codon positions of clock-like genes among the 8295 exon orthologs:High variance exons:Exon.heterogeneous.c123Exon.heterogenous.c12Low variance exons:Exon.homogeneous.c123.Exon.homogenous.c12High variance introns: These are heterogenous intronsconcatIntronNooutMSAlow.fasta.gzLow variance introns: These are homogenous intronsconcatIntronNooutMSAhigh.fasta.gzThis is a concatenated alignment of indels from exons, introns, and UCEs. A README file describes the content.owl_TE_marker_Table.txtSpecies trees (Newick format) were generated with either RAxML, an improved ExaML version for handling large alignments, or MP-EST* . We depoExon.AminoAcid.ExaML.partitioned.treExon.c123.ExaML.partitioned.treExon.c123.ExaML.unpartititoned.treExon.c123-RY.ExaML.unpartitioned.treExon.c12.ExaML.partitioned.treExon.c12.ExaML.unpartitioned.treExon.c1.ExaML.unpartitioned.treExon.c2.ExaML.unpartitioned.treExon.c3.ExaML.unpartitioned.treExon.RAxML.heterogenous.c123.treExon.RAxML.heterogenous.c12.treExon.RAxML.homogenous.c123.treExon.RAxML.homogenous.c12.treIntron.RAxML.heterogenous.tre.txtIntron.RAxML.homogenous.tre.txtIntron.RAxML.partitioned.treIntron.RAxML.unpartitioned.treIntron.MP-EST.binned.treIntron.MP-EST.unbinned.treTEIT.RAxML.treTENT + c3.ExaML.treTENT + outgroup.ExaML.treTENT.ExaML.100%.treTENT.ExaML.25%.treTENT.ExaML.50%.treTENT.ExaML.75%.treUCE.RAxML.unpartitioned.treWGT.ExaML.alternative.treWGT.ExaML.best.treeChronogram01.TENT.ExAML.treChronogram02.TENT.ExAML.max865.treChronogram03.TENT.ExAML.Allig247.treChronogram04.TENT.ExAML.no-outgroup.treChronogram05.TENT.ExAML.no-outgroup.max865.treChronogram06.TENT.MP-EST.treChronogram07.WGT.ExAML.alternative.treChronogram08.WGT.ExAML.best.treChronogram09.Intron.ExAML.unpartitioned.treChronogram10.UCE.RAxML.treChronogram11.Exon.c123.RaXML.partitioned.treML (bestML) gene treesBootstrap replicates of ML gene treesML (bestML) supergene trees used in MP-EST analysesBootstrap replicates of supergene trees used in MP-EST analysesPartition files showing which loci make up which bins for MP-EST analysesScript for filtering amino acid alignmentsScript for filtering nucleotide sequence alignmentsScript for mapping names from 5-letter codes to full namesScripts related to indel analysesWe also deposit the key scripts used in this project in GigaDB, which include:We provide readme files in the script directories describing the usage of the scripts.Project name: Avian Phylogenomic Project scriptshttps://github.com/gigascience/paper-jarvis2014; also see companion paper home page for related data https://github.com/gigascience/paper-zhang2014Project home page: Operating system: UnixProgramming language: R, Perl, pythonLicense: GNU GPL v3.Any restrictions to use by non-academics: noneGigaScience repository, GigaDB [http://avianbase.narf.ac.uk/index.html UCSC:  CoGe: (https://genomevolution.org/wiki/index.php/Bird_CoGe).Other data files presented in this data note for the majority of genomes are available in the , GigaDB  (Table 1