Temnothorax kraussei

Temnothorax kraussei
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Temnothorax
Species:	T. kraussei
Binomial name
Temnothorax kraussei (Emery, 1915) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Epimyrma foreli Menozzi, 1921 Epimyrma vandeli Santschi, 1927

Temnothorax kraussei is a dulotic social parasite within the nests of Temnothorax recedens (Salata, Borowiec & Trichas, 2018; Báthori et al., 2024).

At a Glance

• Dulotic

Identification

Salata et al. (2018) - A social parasite with the following characteristic features: 11 segmented antennae, presence of lobe-like appendages on ventral surfaces of petiole and postpetiole, dull body surface, and reduced teeth.

Keys including this Species

• Key to the Temnothorax of Crete

Distribution

This species is widespread in the Mediterranean. It is found in North Africa in Algeria, and in most of the northern Mediterranean: Spain, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Turkiye (Fig 7). Furthermore, it is known from Morocco, Tunisia, Portugal, Slovenia, Serbia and Greece (Báthori et al., 2024).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 46.233333° to 33.466667°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Croatia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iberian Peninsula, Italy (type locality), Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye.

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.

Biology

Temnothorax (= Myrmoxenus) kraussei is a dulotic parasite with Temnothorax recedens as its host. As in all species of the former genus Myrmoxenus the mated young queen penetrates a nest of the host species where she throttles the host queen and is eventually accepted by the adult workers of the colony.

Most colonies of T. kraussei comprise only a small number of slavemaker workers (often less than five, rarely up to a dozen). One population on the island of Crete (Greece) has been found to be completely workerless. Colonies with a small number of kraussei workers nevertheless may try to conduct slave raids on neighboring host species colonies (cf. Temnothorax ravouxi).

Life History Traits

• Queen number: monogynous (Frumhoff & Ward, 1992)

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Syntype of Myrmoxenus kraussei. Worker. Specimen code casent0904776. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Male (alate). Specimen code casent0901766. Photographer Ryan Perry, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Nomenclature

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

• kraussei. Epimyrma kraussei Emery, 1915a: 262, pl. 4, figs. 14-16 (w.q.) ITALY (Sardinia). Combination in Temnothorax: Ward et al., 2014: 15. Senior synonym of foreli, vandeli: Buschinger, Fischer, et al. 1987: 272. See also: Menozzi, 1931c: 39; Kutter, 1973e: 281.
• foreli. Epimyrma foreli Menozzi, 1921: 29, fig. 2 (w.q.) ITALY. Junior synonym of kraussei: Buschinger, Fischer, et al. 1987: 272. See also: Menozzi, 1931c: 45; Kutter, 1973e: 281.
• vandeli. Epimyrma vandeli Santschi, 1927b: 126 (q.m.) FRANCE. [m. described but not named: Vandel, 1926: 198.] See also: Menozzi, 1931c: 47; Kutter, 1973e: 281. Junior synonym of kraussei: Buschinger, Fischer, et al. 1987: 272.

Type Material

Salata et al. (2018):

• Syntype (w.) (CASENT0904776): Epimyrma kraussei Emery; Typus; Sardagna, Sorgono, 14.III.913; Museo Civico, di Genova; Collezione, Emery; ANTWEB, CASENT0904776 (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa) [image examined].

Báthori et al. (2024) provide the following notes:

• One Temnothorax kraussei syntype gyne was investigated from type locality: Italy: Sardinia, Sorgono, 14.III.1913, leg. A. Krausse (1g-MSNG).
• One syntype worker and one syntype gyne of Epimyrma kraussei were investigated from type locality: Italy: Calabria, vic. Sambiase (no collector’s name, perhaps F. Silvestri), (1w,1g-NHMB, CASENT0912886, CASENT0912887).
• One holotype gyne of Epimyrma vandeli was investigated from the type locality: France: Tarnet-Garonne, Miramont-de-Quercy, 24.IX.1926, leg. A. Vandel, (1g-NHMB).

Description

Karyotype

• See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

 Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• n = 10 (France, Italy, Spain) (Fischer, 1987) (as Epimyrma kraussei).

References

• Báthori, F., Seifert, B., Heinze, J., Kiran, K., Karaman, C., Csősz, S. 2024. Taxonomy of the Palearctic socially parasitic Temnothorax (Myrmoxenus) ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). PLOS ONE, 19(10), e0308712 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0308712).
• Bernadou, A., Fourcassié, V., Espadaler, X. 2013. A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Andorra. ZooKeys 277, 13–23 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.277.4684).
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• Buschinger, A. 1989b. Workerless Epimyrma kraussei Emery 1915, the first parasitic ant of Crete. Psyche (Cambridge) 96:69-74. [1989-12-18]
• Buschinger, A.; Fischer, K.; Guthy, H. P.; Jessen, K.; Winter, U. 1987 [1986]. Biosystematic revision of Epimyrma kraussei, E. vandeli, and E. foreli (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 93: 253-276.
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• Salata, S., Borowiec, L., Trichas, A. 2020. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Crete, with keys to species determination and zoogeographical remarks. Monographs of the Upper Silesian Museum No 12: 5–296 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.3738001).
• Schifani, E., Csősz, S., Viviano, R., Alicata, A. 2021. Ant diversity on the largest Mediterranean islands: on the presence or absence of 28 species in Sicily (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Natural History Sciences 8, 55–70 (doi:10.4081/nhs.2021.532).
• Schifani, E., Nalini, E., Gentile, V., Alamanni, F., Ancona, C., Caria, M., Cillo, D., Bazzato, E. 2021. Ants of Sardinia: An updated checklist based on new faunistic, morphological and biogeographical notes. Redia 104, 21–35 (doi:10.19263/redia-104.21.03).

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