Bothriomyrmex communista

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).

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

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Ukraine.

Nomenclature

 * . 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.

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 based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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