Lepisiota melas

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Lepisiota melas
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Plagiolepidini
Genus: Lepisiota
Species: L. melas
Binomial name
Lepisiota melas
(Emery, 1915)

Lepisiota melas casent0179894 p 1 high.jpg

Lepisiota melas casent0179894 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Lepisiota melas was misinterpreted in popular key to Balkan ants by Agosti and collingwood (1987) and this species needs taxonomic study (Borowiec, 2014).


Identification

Distribution

Recently collected material suggests this species definitely occurs in Aegean Is., Dodecanese and Turkey. However, records east of this area need confirmation (Borowiec, 2014).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 40.65° to 28.5°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Greece (type locality), Iran, Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Lepisiota melas casent0249408 h 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0249408 d 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0249408 p 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0249408 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0249408. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Lepisiota melas casent0249412 p 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0249412 h 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0249412 d 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0249412 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0249412. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Lepisiota melas casent0905146 d 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0905146 h 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0905146 p 1 high.jpgLepisiota melas casent0905146 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Acantholepis frauenfeldi melasWorker. Specimen code casent0905146. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • melas. Acantholepis frauenfeldi var. melas Emery, 1915h: 3 (w.) GREECE. Combination in Lepisiota: Bolton, 1995b: 228. Finzi, 1932: 25 (q.); Finzi, 1939c: 158 (m.). Subspecies of frauenfeldi: Santschi, 1917d: 44. Raised to species: Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 57.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Agosti, D. and C.A. Collingwood. 1987. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 60: 51-62
  • Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2012. Ants of Greece - Checklist, comments and new faunistic data (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus 23(4): 461-563.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
  • Collingwood, C. A. 1993. A Comparitive Study of the Ant Fauna of Five Greek Islands. Biologia Gallo-hellenica. 20,1:191-197
  • Collingwood, C. A.. "A comparative study of the ant fauna of five Greek islands." Biologia Gallo-Hellenica 20 (1993): 191-197.
  • Czechowski W., A. Radchenko, W. Czechowska and K. Vepsäläinen. 2012. The ants of Poland with reference to the myrmecofauna of Europe. Fauna Poloniae 4. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 1-496 pp
  • Emery, C.. "Escursioni zoologiche del Dr. Enrico Festa nell'Isola di Rodi. XII. Formiche." Bollettino del Museo di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparatadella Reale Università di Torino 30 (1915): 1-7.
  • Finzi, B.. "Sopra alcune formiche dell'Isola di Rodi." Bollettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 64 (1932): 24-27.
  • Grandi G. 1935. Contributi alla conoscenza degli Imenotteri Aculeati. XV. Boll. R. Ist. Entomol. Univ. Studi Bologna 8: 27-121.
  • Hamann H. H. F., and W. Klemm. 1976. Ergebnisse der von Dr. O. Paget und Dr. E. Kritscher auf Rhodos durchgeführten zoologischen Exkursionen. XVI. Formicidae. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 80: 669-679.
  • Legakis Collection Database
  • Mohammadi S., M. S. Mossadegh, and M. Esfandiari. 2012. Eight ants species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) new for the fauna of Iran. Mun. Ent. Zool. 7(2): 847-851.
  • Petrov I. Z., and A. Legakis. 1996. Contribution to the Myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Greece. Archives of biological sciences, Belgrade, 48 (3-4): 31-32.
  • Petrov I. Z., and C. A. Collingwood. 1992. Survey of the myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Yugoslavia. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 44: 79-91.
  • Salata S., L. Borowiec, and A.Trichas. 2018. Taxonomic Revision of the Cretan Fauna of the Genus Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with Notes on the Endemism of Ant Fauna of Crete. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 68(4): 769-808.
  • Salata S., and L Borowiec. 2017. Species of Tetramorium semilaeve complex from Balkans and western Turkey, with description of two new species of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 62:279–313.
  • Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2018. A new species of the ant genus Lasius Fabricius, 1804 from Crete (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 789: 139–159.
  • Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2018. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.
  • Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131.
  • Santschi, F.. "Fourmis d'une croisière." Bulletin et Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Bruxelles) 74 (1934): 273-282.