Tetramorium indocile Santschi, 1927 stat. rev. is the proposed scientific name for Tetramorium sp. C sensu Schlick-Steiner et al. (2006) based on combined molecular and morphological evidence (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The last decade's improvements in taxonomic methods led to a rapid exploration of biodiversity. Among the new species thus discovered there are many well outlined Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) which, however, have not yet been described in accord with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. In this paper we revive Tetramorium indocile Santschi, 1927 stat. rev. from synonymy and propose its scientific name for the Western Palearctic OTU characterized earlier, Tetramorium sp. C sensu Schlick-Steiner et al. (2006), based on evidences of molecular phylogeny combined with multivariate analyses of morphometric data. The type series of T. indocile was associated with the Molecular Operational Taxonomic Unit Tetramorium sp. C with high posterior probability (p = 1.0) based on cumulative linear discriminant analysis of morphometric traits. Possible synonyms are excluded as names for it based on biogeographic, and worker-morphometric arguments. In order to avoid further uncertainties, a lectotype for Tetramorium indocile Santschi, 1927 is designated hereby. A diagnosis of T. indocile, the redescription of the worker caste and the first description of males including the male genital morphology are also provided.