Bothriomyrmex communista

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Bothriomyrmex communista
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Genus: Bothriomyrmex
Species: B. communista
Binomial name
Bothriomyrmex communista
Santschi, 1919

Bothriomyrmex communista casent0281572 p 1 high.jpg

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Specimen Labels

Subspecies
Synonyms

This is a common species in Greece, so far noted from most provinces except Crete and Cyclades. It is a very thermophilous species, and its nests were noted under stones on road side inside luminous mixed forest and in a mountain pasture (Borowiec & Salata, 2021).

Identification

Distribution

This is a common species, recorded from all Greek provinces except Crete and Cyclades (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 49.108° to 37°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece (type locality), Italy, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Türkiye, Ukraine (type locality).

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

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Bothriomyrmex communista casent0906241 h 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0906241 p 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0906241 d 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0906241 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0906241. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.
Bothriomyrmex communista casent0905120 h 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0905120 p 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0905120 d 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0905120 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Bothriomyrmex adriacus ioniusWorker. Specimen code casent0905120. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.
Bothriomyrmex communista casent0911463 h 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0911463 p 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0911463 d 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0911463 l 1 high.jpg
Lectotype of Bothriomyrmex meridionalis adriacaWorker. Specimen code casent0911463. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Bothriomyrmex communista casent0911470 h 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0911470 p 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0911470 d 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista casent0911470 l 1 high.jpg
Lectotype of Bothriomyrmex meridionalis communistaWorker. Specimen code casent0911470. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Bothriomyrmex communista antweb1008367 h 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008367 h 2 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008367 p 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008367 p 2 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008367 d 2 high.jpg
Lectotype of Bothriomyrmex meridionalis communistaWorker. Specimen code antweb1008367. Photographer Roland Schultz, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Bothriomyrmex communista antweb1008363 h 1 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008363 h 2 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008363 d 2 high.jpgBothriomyrmex communista antweb1008363 p 2 high.jpg
Lectotype of Bothriomyrmex meridionalis adriacaWorker. Specimen code antweb1008363. Photographer Roland Schultz, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Queen

Bothriomyrmex communistus Q F11.jpg
.

Male

Bothriomyrmex communistus M F12-14.jpg
.

Nomenclature

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

  • communista. Bothriomyrmex meridionalis var. communista Santschi, 1919i: 206, pl. 2, fig. 2 (w.) RUSSIA (Crimea).
    • Emery, 1925e: 11 (m.); Karavaiev, 1927d: 341 (q.).
    • Subspecies of meridionalis: Karavaiev, 1927a: 293.
    • Status as species: Emery, 1925e: 10; Karavaiev, 1927d: 340 (redescription); Dlussky, 1962: 180; Aktaç, 1977: 124; Arnol’di & Dlussky, 1978: 548 (in key); Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 195; Shattuck, 1994: 32; Arakelian, 1994: 75; Bolton, 1995b: 81; Gratiashvili & Barjadze, 2008: 130; Lapeva-Gjonova, et al. 2010: 33; Seifert, 2012b: 98 (redescription); Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 469; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 4; Borowiec, L. 2014: 22 (see note in bibliography); Bračko, et al. 2014: 17; Lebas, et al. 2016: 108; Radchenko, 2016: 99; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2018: 4; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 43; Seifert, 2018: 247.
    • Senior synonym of adriaca: Seifert, 2012b: 98; Radchenko, 2016: 99.
    • Senior synonym of ionius: Seifert, 2012b: 98 (by implication); Radchenko, 2016: 99.
    • Senior synonym of jannonei: Borowiec, et al. 2021: 13.
    • Senior synonym of mohelensis: Seifert, 2012b: 98; Radchenko, 2016: 99.
    • Current subspecies: nominal plus anatolicus.
  • adriaca. Bothriomyrmex meridionalis var. adriaca Santschi, 1922a: 66 (w.) (not q., see Emery, 1925e; 15) ITALY.
    • [Misspelled as adriaticus by Gallé, et al. 1998: 216.]
    • Emery, 1925e: 16 (q.m.).
    • Status as species: Emery, 1925e: 15 (redescription); Zimmermann, 1935: 41; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 162; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 57; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 279 (in key); Shattuck, 1994: 31; Bolton, 1995b: 80; Poldi, et al. 1995: 6; Gallé, et al. 1998: 216; Bračko, 2006: 143; Petrov, 2006: 103 (in key); Bračko, 2007: 19; Karaman, M.G. 2011b: 61; Legakis, 2011: 22.
    • Junior synonym of communista: Seifert, 2012b: 98; Radchenko, 2016: 99.
  • ionius. Bothriomyrmex adriacus subsp. ionius Emery, 1925e: 16 (w.) GREECE (Corfu I.).
    • [Misspelled as jonius by Finzi, 1928c: 790.]
    • Subspecies of adriaca: Donisthorpe, 1927a: 7; Finzi, 1928c: 790; Finzi, 1930d: 315; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 163.
    • Junior synonym of adriaca: Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 57; Shattuck, 1994: 31; Bolton, 1995b: 81; Legakis, 2011: 23.
    • Junior synonym of communista: Seifert, 2012b: 98, 102 (by implication as adriaca synonymised under communista); Radchenko, 2016: 99.
  • jannonei. Bothriomyrmex jannonei Menozzi, 1936d: 295, fig. XV, 1-4 (w.m.) GREECE (Calino I.).
    • Status as species: Shattuck, 1994: 34; Bolton, 1995b: 81; Legakis, 2011: 23; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 470; Seifert, 2012b: 102; Borowiec, L. 2014: 23.
    • Junior synonym of communista: Borowiec, et al. 2021: 13.
  • mohelensis. Bothriomyrmex corsicus subsp. mohelensis Novák, in Novák & Sadil, 1941: 97 (w.q.m.) CZECH REPUBLIC.
    • [Also described as new by Novák, in Kratochvíl, et al. 1944: 106.]
    • Status as species: Kutter, 1968b: 206.
    • Subspecies of corsicus: Shattuck, 1994: 33; Bolton, 1995b: 81; Werner & Wiezik, 2007: 142.
    • Junior synonym of communista: Seifert, 2012b: 98; Radchenko, 2016: 99.

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

Description

Type Material

Type locality(-ies): “Russie (Crimée) (Karawajew leg.) w”.

Original Karawajew label(-s) : “Bothriomyrmex / meridionalis Rog. / v. communista Sant. / Typus: Santschi / Магарачъ [= Magarach], 26.III.1903. / Рязанцевъ [= Ryazantsev]. № 1600.”.

Material: PARALECTOTYPES, 5 w (newly mounted, IN 314/6/1), 46 w, 5 larvae (in alcohol, IN 314/BAMS1/Karaw36).

Notes. Santschi (1919) described Bothriomyrmex meridionalis var. communista from workers collected in Crimea by Karawajew, but he did not provide precise locality information or Karawajew's sample number. Later Dubovikoff designated one specimen with the label “Crimée Karawajew” preserved in the collection of the Natural History Museum Basel (Switzerland) as the lectotype, and the second specimen with the same label as the paralectotype (these data were published first by Seifert in 2012).

In the collection of NMNH NASU we found 51 workers with the original Karawajew label “Bothriomyrmex / meridionalis Rog. / v. communista Sant. / Typus: Santschi / Магарачъ, 26.III.1903. / Рязанцевъ. № 1600” [=Magarach, Ryazantsev]. There are also 3 workers in the Karawajew collection in SIZSK with Karawajew labels “Magaratsh, Tauria, Rjasanzev, 26.III.1903”, “Bothriomyrmex meridionalis Rog. v. communista Santschi, typus”; the latter workers where designated by Kostyuk (1976) as “Syntypus”. We propose to consider all the material from Magarach as paralectotypes of B. communista.

Etymology

The species name communista is a noun in apposition and invariant in form (the spelling "communistus" is incorrect). If the author intended the epithet to be an adjective, the form would have be something like "communisticus".

Determination Clarifications

Dubovikov (2002) - The record of Bothriomyrmex communista from Armenia (Arakelyan, 1994) should be referred to Bothriomyrmex urartus.

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
  • Aktaç, N. "Studies on the myrmecofauna of Turkey I. Ants of Siirt, Bodrum and Trabzon." Istanbul Universitesi Fen Fakultesi Mecmuasi. Seri B 41 (1977): 115-135.
  • Antarea (Personal Communication - Rumsais Blatrix- 27 April 2018)
  • Antarea (at www.antarea.fr on June 11th 2017)
  • Baroni Urbani C. 1977. Katalog der Typen von Formicidae (Hymenoptera) der Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Basel (2. Teil). Mitt. Entomol. Ges. Basel (n.s.) 27: 61-102.
  • Baroni Urbani, C. "Catalogo delle specie di Formicidae d'Italia (Studi sulla mirmecofauna d'Italia X)." Memorie della Società Entomologica Italiana Volume 50 (1971): 5-287.
  • 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.
  • 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.
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  • Bracko G. 2007. Checklist of the ants of Slovenia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Natura Sloveniae 9: 15-24
  • Bracko G., H. C. Wagner, A. Schulz, E. Gioahim, J. Maticic, and A. Tratnik. 2014. New investigation and a revised checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Republic of Macedonia. North-Western Journal of Zoology 10(1): 10-24.
  • Bracko G., K. Kiran, C. Karaman, S. Salata, and L. Borowiec. 2016. Survey of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Greek Thrace. Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7945. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.4.e7945
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  • 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
  • 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.
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  • Gratiashvili N., Barjadze S. 2008. Checklist of the ants (Formicidae Latreille, 1809) of Georgia. Proceedings of the Institute of Zoology (Tbilisi) 23: 130-146.
  • Karaman C., K. Kiran, V. Aksoy, and Y. Camlitepe. 2017. A new species of the genus Camponotus (Mayr) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology 41: 998-1004.
  • Karaman M. G. 2011. A catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Montenegro. Podgorica: Catalogues 3, Volume 2, Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, 140 pp.
  • Kratochvíl J., V. Novák, and J. Snoflák. 1944. Mohelno. Soubor práci venoványch studiu vyznamne památky prírodní. 5. Hymenoptera - Aculeata. Formicidae - Apidae - Vespidae. Arch. Svazu Ochr. Prír. Domov. Moravé 6: 1-155.
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  • Zimmermann, S. "Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Ameisenfauna Süddalmatiens." Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanisch Gesellschaft in Wien 84 (1935): 1-65.
  • Zimmermann, S. "Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Ameisenfaunader Quarnerischen Inseln." Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanisch Gesellschaft in Wien 80 (1930): 45-66.