Temnothorax brackoi

Temnothorax brackoi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Temnothorax
Species group:	aveli
Species:	T. brackoi
Binomial name
Temnothorax brackoi Salata & Borowiec, 2019

Specimens of T. brackoi were collected from various localities: sunny and shadowy located on lowlands and highlands (9 - 990 m a.s.l). The species was noted in various habitats, most often on shrubs and trees growing along roadsides and olive plantations, maquis, phrygana, often inside forests (mostly deciduous, occasionally coniferous). We noted also its presence on the leaves of climbing plants growing on walls or trees. Nests were not found, probably like other species of this group, are located inside dry stems of herbs (Salata & Borowiec, 2019). In western Greece it is very common with occurence decreasing towards the east. It is associated with warm lowland habitats, especially with mediterranean shrubs, and is probably nesting inside dry stems of bushes and large herbs (Borowiec & Salata, 2021).

Identification

Csosz et al. (2024) - This species can be confused with a Temnothorax aveli that latter is placed in another species complex (called aveli-complex) in the Western part of the Balkans and Dalmatia. These two species exhibit similar characteristics in shape, sculpture, color as well as habitat preference. These two species synoptically occur in the same area and may share forest patches or even nest in the same trees. The propodeal spine of workers of T. aveli is somewhat longer than that of T. brackoi, but this feature provides no more than 84% classification success, hence it is of limited use. Therefore, we recommend using a combination of two morphometric characters (D2 = +0.157 * PEW -0.072 * CW +17.08) that function yields an Overall accuracy = 0.977 calculated by the LOOCV-LDA.

• T. aveli (n = 59) = -2,097 ±1.1 [-3.945, +0.429]
• T. brackoi (n = 28) = +2,099 ±0.7 [+0.432, +3.282]

Distribution

This recently described species, recorded from Epirus, the Ionian Islands, Macedonia and Peloponnese. New to Thrace. Locality from Samothraki is easternmost for this species (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 40.00989° to 36.88491°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Croatia, Greece (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.

Nomenclature

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

• brackoi. Temnothorax brackoi Salata & Borowiec, 2019: 93, figs. 1, 2, 9, 13 (w.) GREECE.

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. 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).
• Csősz, S., Alicata, A., Báthori, F., Galkowski, C., Schifani, E., Yusupov, Z., Herczeg, G., Prebus, M.M. 2024. Integrative taxonomy reveals inflated biodiversity in the European Temnothorax unifasciatus complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zoologica Scripta 2024;00:1–17 (doi:10.1111/zsc.12690).
• Salata, S., Borowiec, L. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.877.36320).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• 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.