Pheidole koshewnikovi

Pheidole koshewnikovi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species:	P. koshewnikovi
Binomial name
Pheidole koshewnikovi Ruzsky, 1905 Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Pheidole pallidula arenarum Ruzsky, 1905 Pheidole pallidula orientalis Müller, 1923

Mediterranean populations of the taxon named Pheidole pallidula have recently been divided into four species, three of them recorded in Greece (Seifert, 2016), but this revision is still under discussion owing to the great local variability of this very common Mediterranean ant. From the northern Aegean Islands was recorded Pheidole balcanica and Pheidole koshewnikovi (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Distribution

Khalili-Moghadam et al. (2019) report the first record of P. koshewnikovi from Iran. According to the recent revision of the Pheidole pallidula species-group (SEIFERT 2016), however, all previous Iranian records of Pheidole pallidula probably relate to P. koshewnikovi, which is the species with the easternmost distribution of this group.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 46° to 31.618°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Kazakhstan (type locality), Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Türkiye, Uzbekistan (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Lectotype of Pheidole pallidula koshewnikovi. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code antweb1038025. Photographer Roland Schultz, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Lectotype of Pheidole pallidula orientalis. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code antweb1038026. Photographer Roland Schultz, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Type of unavailable quadrinomial: Pheidole pallidula arenarum orientalis. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0904193. Photographer Will Ericson, 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.

• koshewnikovi. Pheidole pallidula subsp. koshewnikovi Ruzsky, 1905b: 648 (s.w.) KAZAKHSTAN.
  • Subspecies of pallidula: Baroni Urbani, 1968b: 448; Tarbinsky, 1976: 70; Bolton, 1995b: 324.
  • Status as species: Seifert, 2016b: 13.
  • Senior synonym of arenarum, orientalis: Seifert, 2016b: 13.
• arenarum. Pheidole pallidula var. arenarum Ruzsky, 1905b: 647 (s.w.m.) TURKMENISTAN, UZBEKISTAN.
  • Karavaiev, 1926b: 106 (q.).
  • Subspecies of pallidula: Emery, 1915j: 226; Emery, 1916b: 149; Emery, 1921f: 86; Ruzsky, 1923: 4; Emery, 1924a: 8; Karavaiev, 1926b: 106; Karavaiev, 1927a: 288; Menozzi, 1933b: 57; Finzi, 1936: 162; Menozzi, 1936d: 279; Finzi, 1939c: 155; Finzi, 1940: 159; Bernard, 1948: 141; Bernard, 1950b: 287; Bernard, 1953a: 147; Pisarski, 1967: 385; Baroni Urbani, 1968b: 448; Pisarski, 1970: 307.
  • Status as species: Collingwood, 1961a: 64; Collingwood, 1961b: 289.
  • Junior synonym of pallidula: Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 123.
  • Junior synonym of koshewnikovi: Seifert, 2016b: 13.
• orientalis. Pheidole pallidula subsp. orientalis Müller, 1923: 69 (s.w.) TURKESTAN.
  • [First available use of Pheidole pallidula subsp. arenarum var. orientalis Emery, 1915j: 230; unavailable (infrasubspecific) name.]
  • Karavaiev, 1926b: 107 (q.m.); Menozzi, 1936d: 280 (l.).
  • Subspecies of pallidula: Menozzi, 1928a: 126.
  • Junior synonym of pallidula: Baroni Urbani, 1964a: 3; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 123.
  • Junior synonym of koshewnikovi: Seifert, 2016b: 13.

Taxonomic Notes

Pashaei Rad et al. (2018): Seifert (2016) considers Pheidole orientalis to be a junior synonym of P. koshnewnikovi. While there are similarities, the latter is consistently some 20% smaller than the orientalis type and those we report here.

References

• Borowiec, L., Lebas, C., Salata, S. 2022. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from three northern Aegean islands – Lemnos, Samothraki and Thasos. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Entomology 31: 1-14 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.7346453).
• Borowiec, L., Salata, S. 2020. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Jordan. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Entomology 29 (online 2): 1-26 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.3733156).
• Borowiec, L., Salata, S. 2021. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Western Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 30: 1-23 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.5571258).
• Borowiec, L., Wieczorek, K., Salata, S. 2021. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Dodecanese Archipelago, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 30: 1-33 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.5571270).
• Bračko, G. 2019. New data on the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Azerbaijan. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 15, 165–175 (doi:10.23885/181433262019151-165175).
• Demetriou, J., Georgiadis, C., Ralli, V., Salata, S., Borowiec, L. 2024. Setting the record straight: a re-examination of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Cyprus deposited at the Museum of Zoology of Athens. Zootaxa 55231, 49–69 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5523.1.3).
• Khalini-Moghadam, A., Borowiec, L., Nemati, A. 2019. New records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province of Iran with taxonomic comments. Polish Journal of Entomology 88: 163–182 (DOI 10.2478/pjen-2019-0013).
• Kiran, K., Karaman, C. 2020. Additions to the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoosystema 42(18), 285-329 (doi:10.5252/zoosystema2020v42a18).
• Pashaei Rad, S., Taylor, B., Torabi, R., Aram, E., Abolfathi, G., Afshari, R., Borjali, F., Ghatei, M., Hediary, F., Jazini, F., Heidary Kiah, V., Mahmoudi, Z., Safariyan, F., Seiri, M. 2018. Further records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Iran. Zoology in the Middle East 64, 145-159 (doi:10.1080/09397140.2018.1442301).
• Ruzsky, M. 1905b. The ants of Russia. (Formicariae Imperii Rossici). Systematics, geography and data on the biology of Russian ants. Part I. Tr. Obshch. Estestvoispyt. Imp. Kazan. Univ. 38(4-6 6: 1-800 (page 648, soldier, worker described)
• Seifert, B. 2016b. Inconvenient hyperdiversity – the traditional concept of “Pheidole pallidula” includes four cryptic species. Soil Organisms 88: 1-17.
• Snegovaya, N., Shigayev, C. 2021. A checklist of the ants (Insecta, Formicidae) of Azerbaijan Republic. Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics 17(2): 179-207 (doi:10.22067/ijab.2022.67343.1000).
• Stitz, H. 1928. Zoologische Streifzüge in Attika, Morea und besonders auf der Insel Kreta. VIII. Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen 27: 90-91.
• Stukalyuk, S.V., Radchenko, A., Reshetov, A., Akhmedov, A., Goncharenko, I. 2021. Comparative analysis of the population structure of Crematogaster subdentata and Lasius neglectus in the primary and secondary ranges (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fragmenta Entomologica 53, 43-51 (doi:10.13133/2284-4880/436).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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• Bernard F. 1953. Les fourmis du Tassili des Ajjer. Pp. 121-250 in: Bernard, F. (ed.) 1953. Mission scientifique au Tassili des Ajjer (1949). Volume I. Recherches zoologiques et médicales. Paris: P. Lechevalier, 302 pp.
• Collingwood C. A. 1961. The third Danish Expedition to Central Asia. Zoological Results 27. Formicidae (Insecta) from Afghanistan. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening 123: 51-79.
• Crawley W. C. 1920. Ants from Mesopotamia and north-west Persia. Entomol. Rec. J. Var. 32: 162-166.
• Emery C. 1915. Les Pheidole du groupe megacephala (Formicidae). Revue Zoologique Africaine (Brussels) 4: 223-250.
• Finzi B. 1930. Hymenopteren aus Palästina und Syrien. (Zoologische Studienreise von R. Ebner 1928 mit Unterstützung der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien.) Formicidae. Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse. Abteilung I 139:22-24.
• Finzi, B. "Risultati scientifici della spedizione Ravasini-Lona in Albania. III. Formiche." Bollettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 55 (1923): 1-4.
• Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
• Karavaiev V. 1926. Beiträge zur Ameisenfauna des Kaukasus, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über andere palaearktische Formen. Konowia 5: 93-109.
• Karavaiev V. 1927. Übersicht der Ameisenfauna der Krim nebst einigen Neubeschreibungen. Konowia 5: 281-303.
• Khalili-Moghadam A., L. Borowiec, and A. Nemati. 2019. New records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province of Iran with taxonomic comments. Polish Journal of Entomology 88 (2): 163–182.
• Marikovsky P. I. 1979. Ants of the Semireche Desert. [In Russian.]. Alma Ata: Nauka, 263 pp.
• Pashaei Rad S., B. Taylor, R. Torabi, E. Aram, G. Abolfathi, R. Afshari, F. Borjali, M. Ghatei, F. Hediary, F. Jazini, V. Heidary Kiah, Z. Mahmoudi, F. Safariyan, and M. Seiri. 2018. Further records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Iran. Zoology in the Middle East 64(2): 145-159.
• Pisarski B. 1967. Fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) d'Afghanistan récoltées par M. Dr. K. Lindberg. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 24: 375-425.
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• Schultz, R., A. G. Radchenko, and B. Seifert. "A critical checklist of the ants of Kyrgyzstan (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Myrmecologische Nachrichten 8 (2006): 201-207.
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