Further records of social parasitic ants in Europe and review of the Bulgarian species
Citation
Lapeva-Gjonova A (2024). Further records of social parasitic ants in Europe and review of the Bulgarian species. Biodiversity Data Journal. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.3897/bdj.12.e123575 accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-13.Description
Social parasitic ants exploit the colonies of other ant species, either permanently or temporarily. The permanent parasites are amongst the rarest species of ants, although their hosts may be very common. Due to their rarity and often restricted distribution range, most of them are listed as vulnerable. Filling in the gaps in geographical and host ranges will advance our understanding of the social parasitic lifestyle's origin and evolution.This study reports the first records of the slave-makers Myrmoxenus algerianus (Cagniant, 1968) for Europe (Italy, Sicily) and M. ravouxi (André 1896) for Albania and the inquiline Anergates atratulus (Schenck, 1852) for Malta (Gozo). We also report new localities of Camponotus universitatis Forel, 1890 for Albania and Myrmoxenus gordiagini Ruzsky, 1902, M. kraussei (Emery, 1915) and Anergates atratulus for Bulgaria. Diversity, type of parasite-host relationships, host range, distribution and conservation of social parasitic ant species in Bulgaria are discussed. Although social parasitic ants are still understudied in Bulgaria, they represent 21% of the regional ant fauna.Taxonomic Coverages
Geographic Coverages
Bibliographic Citations
Contacts
Albena Lapeva-Gjonovaoriginator
position: Dr
Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University, 8 Dragan Tsankov str.
Sofia
BG
email: gjonova@gmail.com
Albena Lapeva-Gjonova
metadata author
position: Dr
Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University, 8 Dragan Tsankov str.
Sofia
BG
email: gjonova@gmail.com
Albena Lapeva-Gjonova
administrative point of contact
position: Dr
Department of Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University, 8 Dragan Tsankov str.
Sofia
BG
email: gjonova@gmail.com