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, Turkey, 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

 * 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.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2018. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Samos Island, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-13.
 * 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
 * Bracko, G. 2006. Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) of Croatia. Acta Entomologica Slovenica 14(2): 131-156.
 * Bracko, G. "Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Croatia." Acta Entomologica Slovenica Vol 14 st (2006): 131-156.
 * 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.
 * Emery, C. "Les espèces européennes et orientales du genre Bothriomyrmex." Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 56 (1925): 5-22.
 * 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.
 * Lapeva-Gjonova, L., V. Antonova, A. G. Radchenko, and M. Atanasova. "Catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Bulgaria." ZooKeys 62 (2010): 1-124.
 * Petrov I. Z., and C. A. Collingwood. 1992. Survey of the myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Yugoslavia. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 44: 79-91.
 * Salata S., and L Borowiec. 2017. Species of Tetramorium semilaeve complex from Balkans and western Turkey, with description of two new species of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 62:279–313.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2018. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.
 * 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.
 * Santschi, F. "Quelques nouvelles variétés de fourmis paléarctiques." Bulletin de la Société d' Histoire naturelle de l' Afrique du Nord 13 (1922): 66-68.
 * Schifani E., and A. Alicata. 2018. Exploring the myrmecofauna of Sicily: thirty-two new ant species recorded, including six new to Italy and many new aliens (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 87 (4): 323–348.
 * Seifert B. 2012. A review of the West Palearctic species of the ant genus Bothriomyrmex Emery 1869 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 17: 91-104.
 * Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.
 * 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.