we sampled ants in three regions of morocco : first in the north - west , in the region of tangiers - tetouan where we focused on several areas : ( 1 ) mediona and cap spartel within the province of tangiers , ( 2 ) al hamra and balota within the province of tetouan , and ( 3 ) dardara , fifi , talassemtane national park , and bouhachem natural park within the province of chefchaouen . second , we surveyed the eastern region where we focused on two areas : ( 1 ) site of bni snassen within the province of berkan and ( 2 ) temsamane within the province of driouch . the third region of interest was marrakech - tensift - el haouz situated in the south - west of morocco , where the okaimden mountain in the province of al - haouz , was surveyed ( fig . 1.the provinces and localities where sampling was undertaken for this study . 
  the provinces and localities where sampling was undertaken for this study . for collections of ants from nests , specimens were collected under direct vision using an aspirator and forceps . a berlese funnel technique was also utilized for extracting ants from soil and leaf litter and at a few sites we used pitfall traps . specimens were studied under a leica s4d stereomicroscope and identified using available keys ( cagniant 1996 , 2009 ) taxonomic nomenclature follows bolton ( 2014 ) . below , our collections are organized as follows : a2808 : ( 3w , 1q ) ; where a2808 refers to the collection code of reyes - lpez , and where ( 3w , 1q ) refers to 3 workers and 1 queen . this information is followed by the date , locality , gps coordinates , and altitude in meters above sea level . plagiolepis pygmaea , formicinae material and data : a2816 : nest ; 11 june 2011 ; talassemtane national park , tazaout ; 35 7.95 n , 05 06.76 w ; 1,680  m ; a1627 : ( 14w ) ; 15 july 2010 ; talassemtane national park , jbel bouslimame , spanish fir , abies pinsapo , forest ; pitfall trap ; 35 07.05 n , 05 08.16 w ; 1,500  m. this species was found in rabat and casablanca by cagniant ( 1962 ) . although it was described as a rare exotic of european origin , introduced to morocco through human activities , cagniant has never mentioned this species again . the workers that we examined , correspond to the latest description of this species ( sharaf et  al . 2011 ) , in having funicular segments 2 and 3 of equal length , and distinctly broader than long , and 9 ommatidia in the longest row of the eyes . as jbel bouslimame is in a protected area , very remote from human settlements , we suspect p. pygmaea is indigenous to morocco . ponera testacea , ponerinae material and data : a2808 : ( 3w , 1q ) ; 16 may 2011 ; talassemtane national park , akchour ; 35 15.88 n , 05 08.83 w ; 566  m ; a2807 : ( 18w ) ; 05 june 2011 ; talassemtane national park , tazaout ; 35 15.90 n , 05 08.19 w ; 1,475  m ; a2743 : ( 1w ) ; 11 september 2011 ; bouhachem natural park ; 34 59.51 n , 04 49.21 w ; 1,390  m ; a2676 : ( 4w , 3q ) ; 5 june 2011 ; talassemtane national park , tazaout ; 35 15.90 n , 05 08.19 w ; 1,475  m ; a2673 : ( 2w ) ; 29 may 2011 ; talassemtane national park ; 35 04.78 n , 05 10.10 w ; 890  m. a2618 : ( 10w ) ; 12 july 2011 ; bouhachem natural park ; 35 16.33 n , 05 29.47 w ; 1,152  m. it seems this species is widespread in the north of morocco . we found a multitude of them , including whole nests , in leaf litter and soil samples , and under rocks and moss . the main place where we found this species is the talassemtane national park ( chefchaouen ) . x. espadaler ( unpublished data ) previously collected it in morocco at : ( 1 ) bab - bou - idir , 25 may 1986 , 1,500  m , q. canariensis , q. ilex ; espadaler leg . ; and , ( 2 ) tazzeka , taza , 29 march 1997 , 1,400  m , c. hernando leg . strumigenys tenuipilis , myrmicinae material and data : a2596 : ( 1w ) ; 13 july 2011 ; chefchaouen , quercus suber forest ; 35 06.10 n , 05 18.20 w ; 488  m ; a2598 : ( 4w ) ; 14 june 2011 ; dardara , quercus suber forest ; 35 07.24 n , 05 17.60 w ; 374  m. extracted from leaf litter and soil samples using the berlese funnel method . at dardara , it was given species status by brown ( 1953 , p. 132 ) as s. tenuipilis . after further changes in generic placement , however , baroni urbani and de andrade ( 2007 ) have argued that it , along with many dacetines , should revert to the original strumigenys . in morocco , s. baudueri , p. argiola ( cagniant 2006 ) and recently p. membranifera ( taheri andreyes - lpez 2011 ) , all of which are now placed in strumigenys , have been recorded from morocco . temnothorax pardoi , myrmicinae material and data : a2822 : ( 14w ) ; 04 september 2011 ; tangers , mediona , cap spartel ; 35 46.57 n , 05 54.42 w ; 214  m ; a2821 : ( 1w ) ; 13 september 2011 ; chefchaouen , fifi ; 35 01.39 n , 05 12.25 w ; 1,190  m. extracted from samples of soil and leaf litter using the berlese funnel method . this species was described from workers captured in the south of the iberian peninsula ( tinaut 1987 ) . there are other records of this species being found in different areas of the iberian peninsula , including portugal ( tinaut 1987 ) . the present finding is important because up to now this species has been considered as endemic to the iberian peninsula . we intend to survey the coastal areas of the tingitane peninsula ( north of the rif ) in order to precisely delimit the area of its distribution . tetramorium parvioculum , myrmicinae material and data : a2599 : ( 19w ) ; 14 june 2011 ; chefchoauen , dardara , cork oak forest ; 35 07.24 n , 05 17.60 w ; 374  m ; a2597 : ( 6w ) ; 13 july 2011 ; bouhachem , quercus suber woodland ; 35 06.10 n , 05 18.20 w ; 488  m ; a2605 : ( 2w ) ; 11 july 2011 ; chefchaouen , dardara , akerat , cork oak forest ; 35 06.10 n , 05 18.20 w ; 488  m. t. parvioculum was described only recently from gibraltar , on the southern tip of the iberian peninsula ( guillem and bensusan 2009 ) . it has since been found on both sides of gibraltar , namely in spain and in morocco ( guillem et  al . aenictus vaucheri , dorylinae material and data : a2602 : ( 10 w ) nest ; 13 july 2011 ; chefchaouen , akerrat forest , cork oak forest ; 35 06.10 n , 05 18.20 w ; 488  m ; a2197 : nest ; tetouan , al hamra ; 35 23.83 n , 05 22.27 w ; 139  m ; a2866 : nest ; 30 april 2011 ; near balota ; mosaic of scrub and open woodland with pistacia lentiscus , quercus suber , calicotome villosa , cistus spp . ; 34 57.13 n , 05 31.66 w , 140  m. this species is common in three separate locations in morocco . two are from the atlantic coast area of the tingitane peninsula and the other from the atlas of beni mellal ( cagniant 2006 ) . despite its hypogaeic habitat , cagniant considered this species to be very common in koumch ( the region of beni mellal ) . aphaenogaster pallida group , myrmicinae in morocco , the pallida group ( see schulz 1994 ) is represented by two species given below : foreli and leveillei . according to cagniant ( 1996 ) , however , due to their subterranean existence , records are scarce and those which have been cited ( from elsewhere in morocco ) are not georeferenced . material and data : a2721 : ( 6w ) ; 03 april 2011 ; berkan , sibe of bni snassen ; 34 48.91 n , 02 24.30 w ; 729  m. aphaenogaster leveillei material and data : a2084 : ( 11w ) ; 12 february 2011 ; driouch , temsanane , abelkhache , open area surrounded by fields of crops ; 35 12.86 n , 003 41.23 w ; 385  m ; a2656 : ( 1w ) ; 2 april 2011 ; pitfall traps ; 34 48.90 n , 02 24.30 w ; 732  m. material and data : a2802 : nest ; 22 september 2011 ; chefchaouen , dardara , cork oak forest ; 35 06.24 n , 05 17.65 w ; 433  m ; a2848 : nests ; 26 february 2012 ; chefchaouen , akarat , forest of hayouna ; 35 06.64 n , 07 19.43 w ; 722  m. a2850 : nest ; 20 february 2012 ; marrakech , jbel okaimdem ; 31 11.75 n , 07 51.35 w ; 2,170  m. this species has been found in the tingitane peninsula and in the middle atlas ( cagniant 1964 , de haro and collingwood 1994 ) , as well as in tunisia and algeria . our record from marrakech indictes that this species exists at much higher altitude ( 2,170  m ) than previously recorded ( 200800  m ) . linepithema humile , dolichoderinae material and data : a2867 : 4 january 2012 ; chefchaouen city ; 35 10.07 n , 05 16.13 w ; 591  m ; 15 september 2012 ; rabat city , hassan ; 34 01.045 n , 6 49.522 w ; 15 september 2012 ; temara , harhoura ( road to skhirat ) ; 33 54.520 n , 6 58.672 w. l. humile is an invasive species that has been recorded many times in morocco , principally in some coastal areas of the tingitane peninsula ( tangiers and cape spartel , cagniant 1964 ; martil and cabo negro , de haro and collingwood 1994 ) . we can now confirm the widespread presence of this species in rabat and temara ( especially in public gardens ) . . we have found it in various places in the town of chefchaouen , especially in gardens and in the walls of buildings . proceratium algiricum , proceratiinae material and data : a2395 : ( 2w ) ; 14 june 2011 ; chefchaouen , dardara , quercus suber forest ; 35 07.24 n , 05 17.60 w ; 374  m. this species has been recorded in morocco from the central zone , the middle atlas , and chefchaouen ( cagniant , 2006 ) . the ant fauna of morocco is particularly diverse with 233 species , when compared to only 180 species in both algeria and tunisia ( cagniant 2006 ) , but it remains less than the recorded 295 species in the iberian peninsula ( roig and espadaler 2010 ) . the rate at which ant species are added to the list of the moroccan fauna would suggest that there remain more to be discovered . our investigations also suggest that several species previously thought to be restricted in distribution or in choice of habitat are in fact more widespread and less selective ( such as t. pardoi or t. parvioculum ) . it is difficult to speculate how climate change and an array of anthropogenic factors including farming practice will influence the ant fauna . for this reason , frequent and regular field work is required , with accurate data particularly of the macro and micro habitats where ant species are thriving , if we are to understand ant ecology in morocco .
a recent catalogue of the rich ant fauna of morocco included 214 species , with later studies adding an additional 12 species . 
 following recent fieldwork in the north of morocco , we report five new records for the country ( plagiolepis pygmaea latreille , 1798 , ponera testacea emery , 1895 , strumigenys tenuipilis emery , 1915 , temnothorax pardoi tinaut , 1987 , and tetramorium parvioculum guillem & bensusan , 2009 ) and we present new data on the distribution and natural history of six additional species . 
 this work brings the total number of ants known from morocco to 233 , taking into account two species which were omitted in the list of cagniant .