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Article
Fauna and ecological features of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the southeast of the Crimean Peninsula
Zalimkhan M. Yusupov1* , Konstantin I. Shorenko2**
1 A.K. Tembotov Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. I. Armand 37a, Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, 360051 Russia.
2 T.I. Vyazemsky Karadag Scientific Station - Nature Reserve, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Nauki 24, Kurortnoye, Feodosia, 298188 Republic of Crimea
*[email protected] **[email protected]
Received: 12.05.2021 Revised: 19.08.2021 Accepted: 20.08.2021 Published online: 15.11.2021
DOI: 10.23859/estr-210512 UDC 595.796: 591.9
Abstract. The faunistic data is presented for the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) sampled in 2019-2020 in the southeast of Crimea. In total, 28 species belonging to 16 genera and 4 subfamilies have been collected and identified. Fourteen species are new records for the Karadag Nature Reserve, and Lasius bicornis (Foerster, 1850) is recorded for the first time for the fauna of the Crimean Peninsula.
Keywords: Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Karadag Nature Reserve, State Nature Reserve "Mountain Range Tepe-Oba", Malaise traps, Merike traps.
To cite this article. Yusupov, Z.M., Shorenko, K.M., 2021. Fauna and ecological features of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the southeast of the Crimean Peninsula. Ecosystem Transformation 4 (4), 18-23. https://doi.org/10.23859/estr-210512
Introduction
Southeastern Crimea locates along the Black Sea coastline between the towns Sudak and Feodosia. In 1947, it has been included into the list of the protected areas (PA); in 1979, a Karadag Nature Reserve (old name), or State Nature Reserve "Karadagsky" (recent name), has been established. Since 2018, this area belongs to PA of federal significance (Russia). It is a rocky massif of the Jurassic period, about 150160 million years old. Two landscape zones cover the most of its territory, steppes and shrub woodlands and forests. The main forest-forming species are Bene (Pistacia atlantica subsp. mutica), downy oak (Quercus pubescens), and Crimean pine (Pinus nigra subsp. pallasiana). The maximum absolute height
is 577 m above sea level. The total area of Karadag Nature Reserve is 2874.2 hectares, the overland part of the reserve is 2065.1 hectares (Didukh and Shelyag-Sosonko, 1982).
State Nature Reserve "Mountain Range Tepe-Oba" (maximum height 302 m above sea level) is another PA of regional significance of the Republic of Crimea; it covers 1200.0 hectares, locating approximately 15 km eastwards off the Karadag Nature Reserve, in vicinity of Feodosia town. There are both steppe and forest pine areas on the territory of this mountainous PA (Ena et al., 2004).
The family Formicidae includes more than 13800 species worldwide, belonging to 338 genera and 17 extant subfamilies (Bolton, 2021). The ant
fauna of Russia includes 44 genera comprising about 264 species (Dubovikoff and Yusupov, 2017). About almost half of them live in Crimea, 18 species of ants are known from Karadag region and Crimea Mountains (Ivanov and Stukalyuk, 2007; Stukalyuk and Radchenko, 2011).
The study aims to identify the species composition and distribution of ants at Karadag and at adjacent territories.
Materials and methods
During the study of entomological collections for May and September 2019-2020, 465 specimens of ants were analyzed and identified to 28 species from 16 genera. The insects were collected with ten Merike and three Malaise traps (Fig. 1), which were set at six sites: N 44°56'23.79" E 35°14'11.11", N 44°54'47.57" E 35°12'02.38", and N 44°54'46.70", E 35°11'59.42" (Karadag Nature Reserve); N 45°01'18.72" E 35°24'11.49" and N 45°00'29.02" E 35°22'56.63" (Mountain Range Tepe-Oba); N 44°54'57.00" E 35°11'09.96" (the coast of the drying mountain Otuzka River in the Otuz Valley, near the Karadag Nature Reserve) (Figs. 1, 2).
The material was identified by Z.M. Yusupov, the collection of material and its preliminary taxonomic sorting was carried out by K.I. Shorenko. The ants were determined down to the species level by taxonomic keys (Radchenko, 2016). The occurrence of species was calculated according to the equation:
D = (k / K) x 100%, where k is the number of individuals of particular species, and K is the total number of individuals of all collected species. The dominant species (occurrence of 15% or more in collections) are considered widespread species, common species comprised 5% to 15%, relatively rare species contributed less than 5%.
Results and discussion
Annotated list of species of ants in the southeastern Crimea
An annotated list of examined species is provided. Legend: $ - female, S - male, w - worker specimen, Ms - Malaise traps, Mk - Merike traps. Dates are given as dd.mm.yyyy.
Subfamily Ponerinae Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau,1835
Ponera coarctata (Latreille, 1802) Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 $, 7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms), 1 S, 21.08.-28.08.2019 (Ms), 1 S, 26.09.2.10.2019 (Ms).
Subfamily Dolichoderinae Forel, 1878 Bothriomyrmex communista Santschi, 1919 Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 $, 14.08.-20.08.2019 (Ms).
Bothriomyrmex corsicus Santschi, 1923
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 $, 1 S, 8.07.9.07.2020 (Mk).
Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798) Karadag Nature Reserve, 2 S, 10.05.-20.05.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 2 S, 20.05.-31.05.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 31.05.7.06.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 1 $, 7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms), 9 w, 14.06.-21.06.2019 (Ms), 28 w, 1 ergatoginna, 14.06.-21.06.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 7.06.-9.06.2020 (Mk),
2 w, 7.06.-9.06.2020 (Mk), 1 w, 7.06.-14.06.2020 (Ms), 1 w, 21.06.-23.06.2020 (Mk), 1 w, 5.07.6.07.2020 (Mk). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba, 1 w, 17.06.-18.06.2020 (Mk), 1 w, 23.06.-24.06.2020 (Mk), 14 w, 14.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk). Otuz Valley, 1 w,
21.06.-23.06.2020 (Mk).
Subfamily Formicinae Latreille, 1809 Camponotus aethiops (Latreille, 1798) Karadag Nature Reserve, 3 w, 24.04.-1.05.2019 (Ms), 4 w, 10.05.-20.05.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 20.05.31.05.2019 (Ms), 6 w, 31.05.-7.06.2019 (Ms), 9 w,
7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms), 1 $, 21.06.-25.06.2019 (Ms), 1 S, 25.06.-28.06.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 5.08.-14.08.2019 (Ms), 12 w, 14.05.-21.05.2020 (Ms), 1 w, 14.05.21.05.2020 (Ms), 3 w, 7.06.-14.06.2020 (Ms), 2 w,
8.07.-9.07.2020 (Mk). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba,
3 w, 25.06.-27.06.2020 (Mk).
Camponotus fallax (Nylander, 1856) Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 28.05.-4.06.2020 (Ms), 1 w, 4.06.-12.06.2020 (Ms).
Camponotus lateralis (Olivier 1792) Otuz Valley, 1 w, 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk). Camponotus piceus (Leach, 1825) Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 2 S, 10.05.20.05.2019 (Ms), 3 w, 20.05.-31.05.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 31.05.-7.06.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 14.08.-20.08.2019 (Ms), 6 w, 7.06.-9.06.2020 (Mk), 1 w, 7.06.-14.06.2020 (Ms). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba, 1 w, 25.06.-27.06.2020 (Mk), 2 w,
13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk). Otuz Valley, 3 w, 19.06.20.06.2020 (Mk), 3 w, 4.07.-7.07.2020 (Mk), 7 w, 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk).
Cataglyphis aenescens (Nylander, 1849) Karadag Nature Reserve, 4 w, 20.05.-31.05.2019 (Ms).
Colobopsis truncata (Spinola, 1808)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 S, 28.06.-2.07.2019 (Ms).
Formica cinerea Mayr, 1853
Otuz Valley, 1 w, 4.07.-7.07.2020 (Mk). Formica cunicularia Latreille, 1798
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 1.05.-10.05.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 31.05.-7.06.2019 (Ms), 5 w, 14.05.21.05.2020 (Ms), 2 w, 21.06.-23.06.2020 (Mk), 1 w, 8.07.-9.07.2020 (Mk), 3 w 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk). Otuz valley, 1 w, 19.06.-20.06.2020 (Mk), 2 w, 4.07.7.07.2020 (Merike trap), 3 w 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk).
Fig. 1. Sampling sites of collecting the ants (Formicidae). A, B - Mountain Range Tepe-Oba (Feodosia), C - Karadag Nature Reserve, D - Malaise trap installed in the Karadag Nature Reserve, E - Merike trap installed in the biological station.
Formica gagates Latreille, 1798
Karadag Nature Reserve, 32 w, 24.04.-1.05.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 1.05.-10.05.2019 (Ms), 29 w, 10.05.20.05.2019 (Ms), 11 w, 31.05.-7.06.2019 (Ms), 9 w, 7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 25.06.-28.06.2019 (Ms), 12 w, 14.05.-21.05.2020 (Ms), 1 w, 14.05.21.05.2020 (Ms), 3 w, 28.05.-4.06.2020 (Ms), 3 w, 4.06.-12.06.2020 (Ms).
Lasius bicornis (Foerster, 1850) Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 $, 14.05.-21.05.2020 (Ms).
Distribution. Europe, Caucasus, Transcaucasia [Radchenko, 2016; Vankerkhoven et al., 2018].
Lasius neglectus Van Loon, Boomsma et An-drasfalvy, 1990
Karadag Nature Reserve, 6 w, 10.05.-20.05.2019 (Ms), 4 w, 31.05.-7.06.2019 (Ms), 2 w, 7.06.14.06.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 14.06.-21.06.2019 (Ms). Otuz Valley, 1 w, 21.06.-23.06.2020 (Mk). Lasius paralienus Seifert, 1992 Karadag Nature Reserve, 2 w, 8.07.-9.07.2020 (Mk), 3 w, 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba, 13 w, 25.06.-27.06.2020 (Mk). Otuz Valley, 3 w, 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk).
Subfamily Myrmicinae Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835
Anergates atratulus (Schenck, 1852) Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 $, 15.07.-22.07.2019 (Ms).
Aphaenogaster subterranea (Latreille, 1798)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 4.06.-12.06.2020 (Ms).
Crematogaster schmidti (Mayr, 1853)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 28.05.-4.06.2020 (Ms), 1 w, 4.06.-12.06.2020 (Ms). Messor structor (Latreille, 1798) Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 $, 24.04.-1.05.2019 (Ms).
Myrmica bergi Ruzsky, 1902
Karadag Nature Reserve, 2 $, 11.09.-18.09.2019 (Ms). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba, 1 w, 21.06.22.06.2020 (Mk).
Myrmica specioides Bondroit, 1918 Karadag Nature Reserve, 2 w, 31.05.-7.06.2019 (Ms), 1 w, 7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms), 25 w, 8.07.9.07.2020 (Mk). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba, 1 w, 17.06.-18.06.2020 (Mk), 1 w, 19.06.-20.06.2020 (Mk), 13 w, 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk). Otuz Valley, 1 w, 19.06.-20.06.2020 (Mk), 28 w, 13.07.-16.07.2020 (Mk), 4 w, 15.07.-18.07.2020 (Mk). Solenopsis fugax (Latreille, 1798) Karadag Nature Reserve, 3 $, 4.09.-11.09.2019 (Ms).
Temnothorax tauricus (Ruzsky, 1902)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 2 w, 17-19.06.2020 (Mk).
Temnothorax tuberum (Fabricius, 1775)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 2 w, 10.05.-20.05.2019 (Ms), 4 w, 8.07.-9.07.2020 (Mk).
Temnothorax unifasciatus (Latreille, 1798)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 7.06.-14.06.2019 (Ms).
Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus, 1758)
Karadag Nature Reserve, 1 w, 21-23.06.2020 (Mk).
Tetramorium chefketi Forel, 1911
Otuz Valley, 1 w, 4.07.-7.07.2020 (Mk). Mountain Range Tepe-Oba, 1 w, 17.06.-18.06.2020 (Mk).
Occurrence and distribution of species
In our opinion, stationary traps allow to assess reliably the occurrence of some Formicidae species in the study area. Here, we use conditional classification of ant species (three categories):
1. widespread species (Formica gagates, Tapino-ma erraticum, and Myrmica specioides);
2. common species (Camponotus aethiops, Cam-ponotus piceus, Formica cunicularia, and Lasius paralienus);
3. relatively rare species (Anergates atratulus, Aphaenogaster subterranea, Bothriomyrmex com-munista, Bothriomyrmex corsicus, Camponotus fal-lax, Camponotus lateralis, Colobopsis truncata, Cata-glyphis aenescens, Crematogaster schmidti, Formica cinerea, Lasius bicornis, Lasius neglectus, Messor structor, Myrmica bergi, Ponera coarctata, Solenopsis fugax, Temnothorax tauricus, Temnothorax tuberum, Temnothorax unifasciatus, Tetramorium caespitum, and Tetramorium chefketi).
The data on the distribution of other species of ants from Karadag Nature Reserve (Lasius brunneus (Latreille, 1798), Lasius flavus (Fabricius, 1782), Plagiole-pis tauricus Santschi, 1920 (= Plagiolepis pallescens Forel, 1889), Temnothorax parvulus (Schenck, 1852) (this record most likely belongs to another species -Temnothorax crasecundus Seifert et Csösz, 2015), Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935) are known in accordance to Ivanov and Stukalyuk (2007), Wagner et al. (2017). Therefore, the ant fauna of the Karadag Nature Reserve currently includes 33 species belonging to 17 genera and 4 subfamilies.
Species found within the present study in steppe and shrubs woodlands (altitude up to 250-300 m above sea level) are Anergates atratulus, Bothrio-myrmex communista, Bothriomyrmex corsicus, Colo-bopsis truncata, Cataglyphis aenescens, Campono-tus aethiops, Camponotus lateralis, Camponotus piceus, Formica cinerea, Formica cunicularia, Formica gagates, Lasius bicornis, Lasius neglectus, Lasius paralienus, Myrmica specioides, Messor structor, Myrmica bergi, Ponera coarctata, Solenopsis fugax,
Fig. 2. Sampling sites (Malaise and Merike traps) in the Karadag Nature Reserve in 2019-2020 (Google Earth, open access). 1, 2, 3 ,6 -Karadag Nature Reserve; 4, 5 - Mountain Range Tepe-Oba (Feodosia).
Tapinoma erraticum, Temnothorax tauricus, Tem-nothorax tuberum, Temnothorax unifasciatus, Tetra-morium caespitum, and Tetramorium chefketi.
The species found in the woodlands (altitude 300-500 m above sea level) are Aphaenogaster subterranea, Camponotus aethiops, Camponotus fallax, Crematogaster schmidti, and Formica gagates.
Conclusions
In total, 28 species from 16 genera of ants were found at the territory of Karadag, Otuz Valley, and the Mountain Range Tepe-Oba in May and September 2019-2020. The species Anergates atratulus, Aphaenogaster subterranea, Bothriomyrmex commu-nista, Bothriomyrmex corsicus, Camponotus fallax,
Formica cinerea, Lasius bicornis, Lasius neglectus, Myrmica bergi, Myrmica specioides, Ponera coarcta-ta, Solenopsis fugax, Temnothorax unifasciatus, and Tetramorium chefketi were first recorded for the fauna of the Karadag Nature Reserve. The species Lasius bicornis (Foerster, 1850) is new both to the fauna of Crimea and of the Karadag Nature Reserve. Information about myrmecofauna of the Mountain Range Te-pe-Oba is presented for the first time.
Funding
K.I. Shorenko was working within the framework of the State Assignment of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation (theme no. 121032300023-7).
ORCID
Z.M. Yusupov 0000-0002-5149-9679 K.I. Shorenko 0000-0002-5171-9467
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