Myrmica karavajevi

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Myrmica karavajevi
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Myrmicini
Genus: Myrmica
Species: M. karavajevi
Binomial name
Myrmica karavajevi
(Arnol'di, 1930)

Myrmica karavajevi casent0172766 profile 1.jpg

Myrmica karavajevi casent0172766 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Synonyms

Myrmica karavajevi is probably the most widespread of the workerless Myrmica social parasites. It is nowhere common, and usually myrmecologists can find one or two infested colonies and no more, despite repeated searching.

At a Glance • Workerless Inquiline  

Identification

Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - A member of the karavajevi group that has clear affinities with Myrmica lemasnei and Myrmica cagnianti.

  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 1. Scapes in dorsal view of gynes of: (A) M. karavajevi from Truébano de Babia; (B) M. babiensis; (C) M. bibikoffi from Spain.
  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 2B. Head in frontal view of gyne of M. karavajevi from Truébano de Babia.
  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 3B. Petiole in lateral view of gyne of M. karavajevi from Truébano de Babia.
  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 4. Gyne of M. karavajevi from Truébano de Babia, posterior head border in lateral view, showing the collar-like ridge.
  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 5. Petioles, postpetioles and base of the gaster in lateral view of gynes of: (5A) M. lemasnei from Spain; (5B) M. karavajevi from Truébano de Babia.
  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 6. Petioles and postpetioles in dorsal view of gynes of: (6A) M. lemasnei from Spain; (6B) M. karavajevi from Truébano de Babia.

Keys including this Species

See also the key to parasitic Myrmica of West Europe and North Africa based on queens and males.

Distribution

S. England to Ukraine, Czechoslovakia to Finland (Collingwood 1979).

  • Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 11. Distribution of Iberian parasitic Myrmica records, including Myrmica babiensis. Red lines indicate limits of Spanish provinces. Legend of species in picture.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 61.354614° to 42.810833°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine (type locality), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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.
pChart

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.
pChart

Biology

Radchenko and Elmes (2003) - It is catholic in its choice of host species and is perhaps a generalist social parasite specialising on species from the scabrinodis-group of Myrmica. Arnoldi (1930, 1933) found it with Myrmica scabrinodis; in England its host was Myrmica sabuleti; Elmes found it with M. scabrinodis in France; in Poland host species was Myrmica gallienii (Pisarski 1962 noted as host species M. rugulosa, misidentification, material examined); in Finland it hosts appear to be M. scabrinodis and Myrmica lonae while we found M. karavajevi near St. Petersburg in a nest of M. lonae. Similarly, the host worker on the same pin as a S. winterae queen (GENEVA) was Myrmica gallienii (although determined as M. ruginodis by Kutter). One common feature is that all its hosts live in warm but relatively wet places in marshes, meadows and forest glades. The host colony of M. sabuleti from England lived in rather cool damp conditions, which begs the question whether a cryptic ecomorph of M. sabuleti, with biology similar to M. zonae, exists in England (Elmes, unpublished).

Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - Jansen et al. (2010) based on a molecular phylogenetic study showed that M. karavajevi belongs to the same clade (scabrinodis-group) as its recorded hosts, but it appears to have had a common ancestor with its host species a long time ago. Thus it obeys Emery's rule in a loose sort of way: its multiple host use could be explained either by a sudden switch to more generalist behaviour after the extinction of its first host species or by its tracking of daughter species evolved from the original host species (Savolainen and Vepsalainen 2003). The great age of M. karavajevi and its relationship to its host species, illustrated by Jansen et al. (2010), suggests that the latter is more probable.

Collingwood (1979) - This ant has been recorded sometimes in large numbers and sometimes as one or two individuals in nests of various Myrmica host species including Myrmica rugulosa, Myrmica scabrinodis and Myrmica sabuleti. A colony in Dorset, England, was observed for over 4 years during which time alate queens and males of the parasite were present each season together with workers and worker brood of the host, indicating that egg laying queens of both parasite and Myrmica host were surviving together in the same nest. In Norway 2 dealate queens were caught in pitfall traps in July 1974 suggesting that after mating, fertilised queens wander over the ground in search of a colony of the host species.

Host Species

Myrmica karavajevi is known from nests of the following species:

Flight Period

X X X
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: antkeeping.info.

Explore-icon.png Explore: Show all Flight Month data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

Castes

A workerless inquiline.

Nomenclature

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

  • karavajevi. Symbiomyrma karavajevi Arnol'di, 1930c: 269, figs. 1-4 (q.m.) UKRAINE. [Also described as new by Arnol'di, 1933a: 41.] Combination in Symbiomyrma: Seifert, 1994: 15; Seifert, 1996b: 236; in Sifolinia: Samsinak, 1964: 156; in Myrmica: Bolton, 1988a: 4; Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 231. Senior synonym of pechi: Samsinak, 1964: 156; of faniensis, winterae: Seifert, 1994: 15. See also: Kutter, 1973c: 256 (misspelled as karawajewi); Collingwood, 1979: 58; Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 231; Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 163.
  • pechi. Sifolinia pechi Samsinak, 1957: 167, 2 figs. (q.) CZECHOSLOVAKIA. Pisarski, 1962: 367 (m.). Junior synonym of karavajevi: Samsinak, 1964: 156.
  • faniensis. Myrmica faniensis Boven, 1970a: 127, figs. 1, 2 (q.) BELGIUM. Junior synonym of karavajevi: Seifert, 1994: 15. See also: Kutter, 1973c: 256; Boven, 1977: 114; Bolton, 1988a: 4.
  • winterae. Sifolinia winterae Kutter, 1973c: 263, figs. 1, 2, 8, 9, 13-15 (q.m.) SWITZERLAND. Combination in Myrmica: Bolton, 1988a: 4. Junior synonym of karavajevi: Seifert, 1994: 15.

Type Material

Bezděčková et al. (2017) - Sifolinia pechi: The holotype is deposited in Silesian Museum, Opava, Czech Republic (dry-mounted on two rectangular card labels):

  • HOLOTYPE (dalate queen, left antenna mounted on a separate label): ‘Sifolinia / sp.? [hw] // Boh.-Děčín / lgt. Samšiňák [p] -/- Janov / 20. 8. 55 [hw] // Holotypus / Sifolinia pechi / Samšiňák, 1956 (Bezděčková et al. 2017) [p, red label]’ [hw]’ [IN T1096].

Remarks. The specimen was not originally labelled as a type in the collection, but from the original description it is clear that S. pechi was described based on a single dealate female found by Samšiňák at the locality and date which perfectly match the data on the specimen’s label. We thus consider it to represent the holotype.

A detailed taxonomic description of S. pechi was provided by SAMŠIŇÁK (1957a), however, its shorter version published earlier (SAMŠIŇÁK 1956) has priority for nomenclature.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Queen

(n=31): HL 0.78-0.89; HW 0.73-0 .84; SL 0.71-0.80; AL 1.16-1.44 mm; FI 0.42-0.49; FLI 1.03-1.07; SI1 0.83-0.92; SI2 0.89-1.00; PPI 0.55-0.62; ESLI 0.26-0.33; males (n=12): HL 0.66-0.79; HW 0.65-0.73; SL 0.63-0.79; AL 1.14-1.28 mm; SI1 0.91-1.01; SI2 0.97-1.10; PPI 0.54-0.63; ESLI 0.09-0.16.

Etymology

Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - this species was dedicated to the famous Ukrainian myrmecologist Prof. Vladimir Afanasievich Karawajew.

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
  • AntArea. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://antarea.fr/fourmi/
  • Antarea (at www.antarea.fr on June 11th 2017)
  • ArtDatabanken Bugs (via GBIG)
  • Baroni Urbani C., and C. A. Collingwood. 1976. A Numerical Analysis of the Distribution of British Formicidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel 85: 51-91.
  • Baroni Urbani C., and C. A. Collingwood. 1977. The zoogeography of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Northern Europe. Acta Zoologica Fennica 152: 1-34.
  • Bezdecka P., and K. Bezdeckova. 2012. Updated list of the ants of the Czech Republic. Pp 7-12. Bezd??ka P. & Bezd??ková K. (eds) 2012: Blanok?ídlí v ?eských zemích a na Slovensku 8, Chaloupky, 1.-3. ?ervna 2012, sborník abstrakt? z konference. – MVJ Jihlava, 37 pp.
  • Boer P., W. Dekoninck, A. J. Van Loon, and F. Vankerkhoven. 2003. Lijst van mieren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) van Belgie en Nederland, hun Nederlandse namen en hun voorkomen. Entomologische Berichten (Amsterdam) 63: 54-58.
  • Boer P., W. Dekoninck, A. J. van Loon, and F. Vankerkhoven. 2003. List of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Belgium and The Netherlands, their status and Dutch vernacular names. Entomologische Berichten 63 (3): 54-58.
  • 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.
  • Casevitz-Weulersse J., and C. Galkowski. 2009. Liste actualisee des Fourmis de France (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 114: 475-510.
  • Collingwood, C. A. "The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark." Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 8 (1979): 1-174.
  • Csősz S., B. Markó, and L. Gallé. 2011. The myrmecofauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Hungary: an updated checklist. North-Western Journal of Zoology 7: 55-62.
  • 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
  • Czekes Z., Radchenko, A. G., Csősz, S. Szász-Len, A., Tăuşan, I., Benedek, K., and Markó, B. 2013. The genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Romania: distribution of species and key for their identification. Entomologica Romanica 17: 29-50.
  • Dubovikoff D. A., and Z. M. Yusupov. 2018. Family Formicidae - Ants. In Belokobylskij S. A. and A. S. Lelej: Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Proceedingss of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 6: 197-210.
  • Else G., B. Bolton, and G. Broad. 2016. Checklist of British and Irish Hymenoptera - aculeates (Apoidea, Chrysidoidea and Vespoidea). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e8050. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.4.e8050
  • Fowles A. P. 1996. A provisional checklist of the invertebrates recorded from Wales. 2. Aculeate wasps, bees and ants (Hymenoptera: Aculeata). Countryside Council for Wales
  • Fowles, A.P. 1996. A provisional checklist of the invertebrates recorded from Wales. 2. Aculeate wasps, bees and ants (Hymenoptera: Aculeata). Countryside Council for Wales
  • Jansen G., R. Savolainen, K. Vespalainen. 2010. Phylogeny, divergence-time estimation, biogeography and social parasite–host relationships of the Holarctic ant genusMyrmica(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56: 294-304.
  • Kvamme T. 1982. Atlas of the Formicidae of Norway (Hymenoptera: Aculeata). Insecta Norvegiae 2: 1-56.
  • Lebas C., and C. Galkowski. 2016. Myrmica hirsuta Elmes, 1978, a new species from France (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 151, 44(2/3): 239-244.
  • Neumeyer R., and B. Seifert. 2005. Commented check list of free living ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species of Switzerland. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique Suisse 78: 1-17.
  • Odegaard F. 2013. New and little known ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Norway. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 60, 172–175.
  • Pisarski B. 1962. Sur Sifolinia pechi Sams. trouvée en Pologne (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences. Série des Sciences Biologiques. 10: 367-369.
  • Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2003. A taxonomic revision of the socially parasitic Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Palaearctic region. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 53: 217-243.
  • Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2010. Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Old World. Fauna Mundi 3. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 790 pp.
  • Seifert B. 1994. Die freilebenden Ameisenarten Deutschlands (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) und Angaben zu deren Taxonomie und Verbreitung. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Görlitz 67(3): 1-44.
  • Seifert B. 1998. Rote Liste der Ameisen. - in: M. Binot, R. Bless, P. Boye, H. Gruttke und P. Pretscher: Rote Liste gefährdeter Tiere Deutschlands. Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1998: 130-133.
  • Shlyakhtenok A. S. 2007. Hymenoptera Aculeata of Raised Bogs in Belarus. Entomological Review 87(2): 136–147.
  • Slipinski P., M. Zmihorski, and W. Czechowski. 2012. Species diversity and nestedness of ant assemblages in an urban environment. Eur. J. Entomol. 109: 197–206.
  • Steiner F. M., S. Schödl, and B. C. Schlick-Steiner. 2002. Liste der Ameisen Österreichs (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Stand Oktober 2002. Beiträge zur Entomofaunistik 3: 17-25.
  • Sushko G. G. 2013. The ants (hymenoptera, formicidae) bogs Belarusian Lakeland. Proceedings of the international. scientific-practical. conference, Vitebsk, 21-22 November 2013 - Vitebsk, 2013. - P. 215-216.
  • Szujecki A., J. Szyszko, S. Mazur, and S. Perlinski. 1978. A succession of the ants (Formicidae) on afforested arable land and forest soils. Memorabilia Zoologica 29: 183-189.
  • Vankerkhoven F., Z. Vanstraelen, and W. Dekoninck. 2011. Rediscovery of the parasitic ant Myrmica karavajevi (Arnoldi, 1930) in Belgium (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). Bulletin S. R. B. E. 147: 185-187.
  • Witek M., H. Babik, W. Czechowski, and W. Czechowska. 2013. Myrmica karavajevi (Arn.)(Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Poland: a species not as rare as it is thought to be? Fragmenta Faunistica 56(1): 17-24.
Retrieved from "https://antwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Myrmica_karavajevi&oldid=722939"