Response to Genovesi et al.: Ant biosurveillance should come before invasion.

Menchetti et al. respond to the letter of Genovesi et al. and contribute new records of the red imported fire ant in Sicily.

The invasive ant Solenopsis invicta is established in Europe.

The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is classified as one of the worst invasive alien species and as the fifth costliest worldwide, impacting ecosystems, agriculture and human health. We report the establishment of S. invicta in Europe for the first time, documenting a mature population in Sicily.

Nomenclatural changes on some Mediterranean Aphaenogaster Mayr, 1853 taxa (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

The ant genus Aphaenogaster Mayr, 1853 is especially diverse in the West-Palearctic region, where its taxonomy is still problematic for several groups. Among other issues, there is a redundancy of valid taxa compared to the number of species whose validity is currently sustained by any evidence. Names that do not represent taxa with clearly defined identities complicate specimen identification and add confusion to biodiversity databases and checklists.

Unrecognized for centuries: distribution and sexual caste descriptions of the West European species of the group (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

There are only two species from the group in the western Mediterranean: Santschi, 1925, from south-western Europe, and (Latreille, 1798), also occurring in central and eastern Europe. Historically, the two species have been widely misunderstood: was long considered a Sardinian endemic subspecies of , while its continental populations were misidentified as s. str.