Кавказский энтомологический бюллетень 15(1): 165–175 © Caucasian Entomological Bulletin 2019

New data on the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Azerbaijan Новые данные по фауне муравьев

(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Азербайджана

© G. Bračko

© Г. Брачко

University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, Jamnikarjeva str., 101, Ljubljana 1000 Slovenia. E-mail: gregor.bracko@bf.uni-lj.si

Люблянский университет, биотехнический факультет, кафедра биологии, ул. Ямникарьева, 101, Любляна 1000 Словения

Key words: Hymenoptera, Formicidae, faunistics, new records, Azerbaijan, Caucasus.

Ключевые слова: Hymenoptera, Formicidae, фауна, новые находки, Азербайджан, Кавказ.

Abstract. Ants of Azerbaijan are relatively poorly known compared to other parts of the Caucasus area and Europe. To improve the knowledge of the ant fauna, we performed field sampling in 2017, including different habitats extending throughout the country. We collected data on ants from 46 localities, and identified 73 species all together, of which 30 present new records for Azerbaijan, i.e., Camponotus lateralis (Olivier, 1792), Cardiocondyla brachyceps Seifert, 2003, C. stambuloffii Forel, 1892, Formica cunicularia Latreille, 1798, F. georgica Seifert, 2002, Lasius bombycina Seifert et Galkowski, 2016,

L. illyricus Zimmermann, 1935, L. neglectus/turcicus complex, L. obscuratus Stitz, 1930, L. platythorax Seifert, 1991, L. cf. platythorax, Lepisiota syriaca (André, 1881), Myrmica salina Ruzsky, 1905, M. specioides Bondroit, 1918, Myrmoxenus cf. ravouxi, Plagiolepis arnoldii Dlussky, Soyunov et Zabelin, 1990, P. perperamus Salata, Borowiec et Radchenko, 2018, Ponera testacea Emery, 1895, Proformica epinotalis Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927, Tapinoma magnum Mayr, 1861, Temnothorax interruptus (Schenck, 1852),

T. parvulus (Schenck, 1852), T. cf. recedens, T. tauricus (Ruzsky, 1902), Tetramorium cf. caespitum, T. caucasicum Wagner, Arthofer, Seifert, Muster, Steiner et Schlick- Steiner, 2017, T. chefketi Forel, 1911, T. indocile Santschi, 1927, T. moravicum Novák et Sadil, 1941, and T. sulcinode Santschi, 1927.

Резюме. Фауна муравьев Азербайджана относительно слабо изучена по сравнению с другими частями Кавказа и Европой. В ходе экспедиции по стране в 2017 году было собрано 73 вида муравьев из 46 местонахождений, 30 видов из них впервые указаны для Азербайджана: Camponotus lateralis (Olivier, 1792), Cardiocondyla brachyceps Seifert, 2003, C. stambuloffii Forel, 1892, Formica cunicularia Latreille, 1798, F. georgica Seifert, 2002, Lasius bombycina Seifert et Galkowski, 2016, L. illyricus Zimmermann, 1935, L. neglectus/turcicus complex, L. obscuratus Stitz, 1930, L. platythorax Seifert, 1991, L. cf. platythorax, Lepisiota syriaca (André, 1881), Myrmica salina Ruzsky, 1905, M. specioides Bondroit, 1918, Myrmoxenus cf. ravouxi, Plagiolepis arnoldii Dlussky, Soyunov et Zabelin, 1990, P. perperamus Salata, Borowiec et Radchenko, 2018, Ponera testacea Emery, 1895, Proformica

Research Article / Научная статья

DOI: 10.23885/181433262019151-165175

epinotalis Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927, Tapinoma magnum

Mayr, 1861, Temnothorax interruptus (Schenck, 1852),

T. parvulus (Schenck, 1852), T. cf. recedens, T. tauricus (Ruzsky, 1902), Tetramorium cf. caespitum, T. caucasicum Wagner, Arthofer, Seifert, Muster, Steiner et Schlick- Steiner, 2017, T. chefketi Forel, 1911, T. indocile Santschi, 1927, T. moravicum Novák et Sadil, 1941, и T. sulcinode Santschi, 1927.

Introduction

Recently, ants of the Palaearctic region were subjected to several taxonomical revisions. Thus, some genera underwent important taxonomical changes, e.g. Bothriomyrmex Emery, 1869 [Seifert, 2012], Cardiocondyla

Emery, 1869 [Seifert, 2003], Formica Linnaeus, 1758 [Seifert, Schultz, 2009a, b], Messor Forel, 1890 [Steiner et al., 2018], Myrmica Latreille, 1804 [Radchenko, Elmes, 2010], Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 [Csősz et al., 2015, 2018] and Tetramorium Mayr, 1855 [Csősz et al., 2007; Csősz, Schulz, 2010; Wagner et al., 2017]. These revisions incited European myrmecologists to update ant lists for their countries, which resulted in improved knowledge on distribution of ant taxa.

The Caucasus, situated at the junction of Europe and Asia, is an important natural region with high species richness, levels of endemism, taxonomic uniqueness and presence of many habitat types of global rarity [Biodiversity..., 2000]. As far as ants are concerned, this territory used to be part of myrmecological investigations for a long time, but recently, intensity of faunistic studies lagged behind the ones in other European regions. The last ant list was published for Georgia [Gratiashvili, Barjadze, 2008], but the list lacks critical evaluation of older literature records. For Armenia, the last extensive study of ants dates 25 years back [Arakelian, 1994]. Ants of Russian part of the Caucasus were studied in several shorter contributions [Dubovikoff, 2002, 2005; Radchenko et al., 2015; Radchenko, Yusupov, 2017; Yusupov, 2014, 2017a, b]. Compared to other parts of the Caucasus, Azerbaijan is the most deficient and outdated in knowledge on ant fauna, without any faunistic

Fig. 1. Sampling localities of ants in Azerbaijan in 2017.

Рис. 1. Точки сбора муравьев в Азербайджане в 2017 году.

work published recently. Moreover, while Armenian and Georgian ant material was used in several latest taxonomical revisions [Csősz et al., 2007, 2015, 2018;

Seifert, 2011; Seifert, Csősz, 2015; Wagner et al., 2017; Steiner et al., 2018], Azerbaijan was mostly neglected in those investigations.

In the past studies, ants from the territory of present Azerbaijan were included in the survey of the ant fauna of former Imperial Russia [Ruzsky, 1905], or the whole Caucasus [Karavaiev, 1926a, b, c]. Records on Azerbaijanian ants can be found in reviews of certain genera from the former Soviet Union, e.g. Messor [Arnol’di, 1977], Proformica Ruzsky, 1902 [Dlussky, 1969],

Solenopsis Westwood, 1840 [Dlussky, Radchenko, 1994], Temnothorax [Radchenko, 1994a, 1995] and Tetramorium [Radchenko, 1992]. An important study, which dealt particularly with Azerbaijanian ants, was published by Arnol’di [1948], who presented an extensive faunistic and ecological investigation of the ants of the Talysh Mts. and Diabar Depression (south-eastern Azerbaijan). Recently, Dubovikoff and Radchenko [2010] described Chalepoxenus hyrcanus from Talysh Mts. In the list of ants from Europe and Mediterranean [Borowiec, 2014], 70 species are reported for Azerbaijan.

So far, there has not been any investigation that would include sampling of ants throughout Azerbaijan. Here we present the results of such investigation carried out in Azerbaijan in 2017.

Material and methods

Ants were sampled in August and September 2017, in different parts of Azerbaijan (Fig. 1). The only areas not covered in the investigation were Nagorno-Karabakh region and exclave of Nakhchivan. Altogether, 46 localities were investigated (Table 1). Ants were sampled applying direct sampling method [Bestelmeyer et al., 2000]. The material was preserved in 70% ethanol and is deposited in the ant collection of the author (Ljubljana, Slovenia).

The following taxonomic literature was considered for the identification of species: Arnol’di [1977], Borowiec and Salata [2013], Csősz et al. [2007, 2015, 2018], Dlussky [1969], Dlussky and Radchenko [1994], Dlussky and Zabelin [1985], Radchenko [1994b, 1996a, b, 1997, 1998], Radchenko and Elmes [2010], Salata and Borowiec [2015, 2018], Salata et al. [2018], Seifert [1992, 2000a, 2002, 2003,

2011, 2016, 2018], Seifert and Galkowski [2016], Seifert and Schultz [2009a, b], Seifert et al. [2017], Steiner et al. [2018],

Wagner et al. [2017]. Where available, we compared our samples with high quality images of the type specimens on the AntWeb website [http://www.antweb.org].

Images of ant specimens shown here were taken with a Canon 80D photo camera with Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens and processed with CombineZM software.

We list all 73 species collected by the author in Azerbaijan in 2017, and give numbers of localities as defined in Table 1, and number of collected specimens for each species (w. – workers, q. – queens, m. – males). We give comments to some records, and mark new species for Azerbaijan with an asterisk *.

Table 1. List of localities (arranged chronologically) in Azerbaijan where ants were sampled in 2017.

Таблица 1. Список местонахожденией муравьев в Азербайджане в 2017 году (в хронологическом порядке).

Table 1 (continuation).

Таблица 1 (продолжение).

Table 1 (completion).

Таблица 1 (окончание).

List of species

Aphaenogaster muschtaidica Emery, 1908

Material. Localities: 7, 8, 14, 26, 30. Number of specimens collected: 25 w.

Notes. Salata and Borowiec [2018] redescribed

A. muschtaidica based on the material from Georgia. This species was formerly mostly treated as subspecies or synonym of A. gibbosa (Latreille, 1798). Aphaenogaster muschtaidica is probably restricted to the Caucasus area while true A. gibbosa has western-Mediterranean distribution.

Aphaenogaster subterranea (Latreille, 1798) (Fig. 2)

Material. Localities: 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 19, 23, 25, 26, 27. Number of

specimens collected: 142 w., 6 q., 3 m.

Notes. Individuals we collected show some morphological differences from the typical A. subterranea from Europe. They include mostly darker colour, smaller body size and more dilute head sculpture. The true identity

of Azerbaijanian samples shall be established only after the complete revision of A. subterranea group.

Camponotus aethiops (Latreille, 1798)

Material. Localities: 4, 5, 16, 18, 29, 42, 43, 44. Number of specimens

collected: 61 w.

Camponotus atricolor (Nylander, 1849)

Material. Localities: 4, 7, 9, 13, 29, 30, 31, 35, 36, 39, 42, 43. Number

of specimens collected: 70 w., 1 q., 11 m.

Camponotus fallax (Nylander, 1856)

Material. Localities: 6, 18, 26, 28. Number of specimens collected: 4 w.

*Camponotus lateralis (Olivier, 1792)

Material. Localities: 3, 7, 14, 18, 25, 39. Number of specimens

collected: 29 w.

Camponotus turkestanicus Emery, 1887

Material. Localities: 30, 35, 44, 45, 46. Number of specimens

collected: 15 w.

*Cardiocondyla brachyceps Seifert, 2003

Material. Locality: 25. Number of specimens collected: 18 w.

Cardiocondyla sahlbergi Forel, 1913

Material. Localities: 20, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 36, 37, 40, 42, 45.

Number of specimens collected: 70 w.

*Cardiocondyla stambuloffii Forel, 1892

Material. Localities: 31, 46. Number of specimens collected: 19 w.

Cataglyphis aenescens (Nylander, 1849)

Material. Localities: 9, 35, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45. Number of specimens

collected: 89 w.

Cataglyphis nodus (Brullé, 1833)

Material. Localities: 13, 29, 30, 31, 35, 36, 43, 44, 45, 46. Number of specimens collected: 61 w.

Colobopsis truncata (Spinola, 1808)

Material. Localities: 8, 21, 25, 26. Number of specimens collected: 9 w.

Crematogaster schmidti (Mayr, 1853)

Material. Localities: 3, 7, 8, 14, 18, 22, 25, 26, 31, 35, 39, 40. Number of specimens collected: 212 w.

Crematogaster subdentata Mayr, 1877

Material. Localities: 2, 29, 30, 36, 43. Number of specimens collected: 79 w.

Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (Linnaeus, 1771)

Material. Localities: 7, 8, 14, 18, 26, 28, 39. Number of specimens

collected: 35 w.

Formica clara Forel, 1886

Material. Localities: 1, 4, 8, 10, 16, 19, 20, 26, 28, 30, 35, 38, 42.

Number of specimens collected: 85 w.

*Formica cunicularia Latreille, 1798

Material. Locality: 19. Number of specimens collected: 7 w.

Formica cf. forsslundi

(Fig. 3)

Material. Locality: 12. Number of specimens collected: 20 w.

Notes. Seifert [2000a] pointed out that population of

F. forsslundi Lohmander, 1949 from the Caucasus differs from European population in few characters, and later Schultz and Seifert [2007] considered it as a separate undescribed species.

*Formica georgica Seifert, 2002

Material. Localities: 4, 10, 15, 23, 25, 27, 32, 34. Number of specimens

collected: 96 w.

Formica picea Nylander, 1846

Material. Locality: 12. Number of specimens collected: 31 w., 1 q., 1 m.

Formica sanguinea Latreille, 1798

Material. Localities: 7, 15, 19, 30, 42. Number of specimens collected: 50 w.

Formica subpilosa Ruzsky, 1902

Material. Locality: 46. Number of specimens collected: 29 w.

*Lasius bombycina Seifert et Galkowski, 2016

Material. Localities: 4, 10, 11. Number of specimens collected: 23 w.

Lasius brunneus (Latreille, 1798)

Material. Locality: 8. Number of specimens collected: 9 w.

Lasius flavus (Fabricius, 1782)

Material. Localities: 10, 12, 15, 27, 32. Number of specimens

collected: 77 w., 1 q., 9 m.

*Lasius illyricus Zimmermann, 1935

Material. Localities: 15, 19, 26, 28, 32. Number of specimens

collected: 39 w., 1 q.

Lasius myops Forel, 1894

Material. Locality: 42. Number of specimens collected: 15 w., 2 q., 3 m.

*Lasius neglectus/turcicus complex

Material. Localities: 1, 7, 8, 9, 14, 18, 19, 25, 26, 28, 31, 35, 36, 38, 39,

40, 44. Number of specimens collected: 280 w.

Notes. The status of both taxa, L. neglectus Van Loon, Boomsma et Andrasfalvy, 1990 and L. turcicus Santschi, 1921, is still under discussion. Populations of both taxa show differences in biology and ecology and quite expressed morphometric differences in males (these are less expressed in female castes), which could indicate that these are two distinct species [Seifert, 2000b]. However, preliminary molecular studies suggest conspecifity of both taxa, which confirms hypothesis of two ecomorphotypes of one species.

*Lasius obscuratus Stitz, 1930

Material. Localities: 3, 11, 12, 15, 16, 42. Number of specimens

collected: 52 w., 5 q.

*Lasius platythorax Seifert, 1991

Material. Locality: 28. Number of specimens collected: 15 w.

*Lasius cf. platythorax

Material. Locality: 10. Number of specimens collected: 7 w.

Notes. Workers of this sample are similar to

L. platythorax, but show reduced standing pilosity on underside of head, scapus and hind tibia.

Lepisiota caucasica (Santschi, 1917) (Fig. 4)

Material. Localities: 13, 22, 29, 35, 45. Number of specimens

collected: 45 w.

Figs 2–7. Lateral view of the body of ant workers.

2 – Aphaenogaster subterranea from locality 11; 3 – Formica cf. forsslundi from locality 12; 4 – Lepisiota caucasica from locality 29; 5 – Messor caducus

from locality 44; 6 – Temnothorax cf. recedens from locality 25; 7 – Tetramorium cf. caespitum from locality 27. Scale bars 1 mm.

Рис. 2–7. Муравьи-рабочие, вид сбоку.

2 – Aphaenogaster subterranea, местонахождение 11; 3 – Formica cf. forsslundi, местонахождение 12; 4 – Lepisiota caucasica, местонахождение 29; 5 – Messor caducus, местонахождение 44; 6 – Temnothorax cf. recedens, местонахождение 25; 7 – Tetramorium cf. caespitum, местонахождение 27. Масштабные линейки 1 мм.

Notes. The genus Lepisiota Santschi, 1926 needs to be revised. The above listed samples were identified as

L. caucasica, which is by some authors treated as a valid species [Borowiec, 2014], but by others as a synonym of

1. frauenfeldi (Mayr, 1855) [Arakelian, 1994].

   *Lepisiota syriaca (André, 1881)

   Material. Locality: 13. Number of specimens collected: 10 w.

   Messor caducus (Victor, 1839) (Fig. 5)

   Material. Localities: 9, 29, 30, 35, 36, 43, 44, 46. Number of specimens

   collected: 134 w., 4 q.

   Notes. All our samples belong to subspecies

2. caducus caucasicola Arnol’di, 1977.

Messor melancholicus Arnol’di, 1977

Material. Localities: 41, 42. Number of specimens collected: 45 w.

Messor muticus (Nylander, 1849)

Material. Localities: 4, 5, 15, 19, 24, 28, 31, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40, 43, 46.

Number of specimens collected: 202 w., 1 q.

Notes. Integrative taxonomy study applied by Steiner et al. [2018] showed that traditionally known taxon Messor “structor ” (Latreille, 1798) comprises of five distinct species. Based on their studied material only M. muticus occurs in the Caucasus area.

Monomorium ruzskyi Dlussky et Zabelin, 1985

Material. Localities: 13, 29, 30, 35, 36, 44, 45. Number of specimens

collected: 111 w.

Myrmica caucasicola Arnol’di, 1934

Material. Locality: 10. Number of specimens collected: 1 w.

Myrmica hellenica Finzi, 1926

Material. Localities: 15, 26, 28, 33, 42. Number of specimens

collected: 83 w., 1 q., 2 m.

Myrmica lobicornis Nylander, 1846

Material. Locality: 12. Number of specimens collected: 20 w.

Myrmica ruginodis Nylander, 1846

Material. Localities: 10, 12, 32. Number of specimens collected: 27 w.

*Myrmica salina Ruzsky, 1905

Material. Localities: 20, 30, 31. Number of specimens collected: 24 w.,

3 m.

*Myrmica specioides Bondroit, 1918

Material. Localities: 7, 8, 10, 17, 19, 40, 42. Number of specimens

collected: 77 w., 5 m.

*Myrmoxenus cf. ravouxi

Material. Locality: 15. Number of specimens collected: 6 w., 4 q., 6 m.

Notes. Two closely related socially parasitic species

M. ravouxi (André, 1896), known from southern and central Europe, and M. tamarae (Arnol’di, 1968), apparently restricted to the Caucasus, can be safely separated only by multidisciplinary comparison [Gratiashvili et al., 2014]. Based on morphometry our sample was closer to

M. ravouxi, but for more certain identification molecular analysis is needed (N. Gratiashvili, pers. comm. 2019). The host species was Temnothorax tauricus.

Pheidole koshewnikovi Ruzsky, 1905

Material. Localities: 7, 9, 18, 22, 25, 29, 35, 38, 40, 42, 43, 46. Number of specimens collected: 119 w.

*Plagiolepis arnoldii Dlussky, Soyunov et Zabelin, 1990

Material. Localities: 3, 7, 18, 21, 46. Number of specimens collected: 26 w.

Plagiolepis pallescens Forel, 1889

Material. Localities: 4, 5, 9, 16, 18, 20, 31, 36, 41. Number of specimens

collected: 72 w.

Notes. According to Salata et al. [2018], a taxon considered as P. pallescens sensu Radchenko, characterised by dense pubescence on gaster tergites, is described as a new species P. perperamus, while species with sparse pubescence, before also known under the name P. taurica Santschi, 1920, is redescribed as P. pallescens Forel, 1889. Since their study is based on the material from eastern Mediterranean, the taxonomic status of Plagiolepis species from the Caucasus area needs to be confirmed in further revisions.

*Plagiolepis perperamus Salata, Borowiec et Radchenko, 2018

Material. Localities: 1, 13, 31, 37, 39, 40. Number of specimens

collected: 33 w.

Notes. See notes under P. pallescens.

Ponera coarctata (Latreille, 1802)

Material. Localities: 23, 34. Number of specimens collected: 15 w., 4 m.

*Ponera testacea Emery, 1895

Material. Locality: 5. Number of specimens collected: 1 w.

*Proformica epinotalis Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927

Material. Localities: 9, 41. Number of specimens collected: 17 w.

Solenopsis fugax (Latreille, 1798)

Material. Localities: 4, 11, 22, 26, 39. Number of specimens collected:

160 w., 3 q., 3 m.

Notes. The genus Solenopsis Westwood, 1840 from Western Palaearctic needs to be revised. Following the key in Dlussky and Radchenko [1994], workers with sides of head convex were identified as S. fugax. In several other species known from the region (S. deserticola Ruzsky, 1905,

S. juliae (Arakelian, 1991), S. ilinei Santschi, 1936, and

1. nitida (Dlussky et Radchenko, 1994)), where workers

   
   

   show more parallel head sides (as in our sample from the locality 15), safe distinguishing between species is only possible in sexuals.

   Solenopsis sp.

   Material. Locality: 15. Number of specimens collected: 25 w.

   Notes. See notes under S. fugax.

   Strongylognathus rehbinderi Forel, 1904

   Material. Locality: 40. Number of specimens collected: 30 w.

   Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798)

   Material. Localities: 4, 35, 40. Number of specimens collected: 45 w.

   Tapinoma karavaievi Emery, 1925

   Material. Localities: 5, 15, 27, 46. Number of specimens collected:

   88 w., 1 q.

   *Tapinoma magnum Mayr, 1861

   Material. Locality: 1. Number of specimens collected: 20 w.

   Notes. This is one of the species of the T. nigerrimum complex which has a strong invasive potential [Seifert et al., 2017]. In the Mediterranean area it is abundant in degraded areas with significant anthropogenic influence and was already reported from several cities in central and western Europe. These ants were abundant in urban park in central Baku (Philharmony Park), and they acted aggressively.

   Temnothorax crasecundus Seifert et Csősz, 2015

   Material. Localities: 11, 14, 16, 26, 28. Number of specimens

   collected: 15 w.

   Notes. The revision of T. nylanderi group [Seifert, Csősz, 2015; Csősz et al., 2015] showed that of the three parapatric closely related species, T. nylanderi (Foerster, 1850), T. crassispinus (Karavaiev, 1926) and T. crasecundus, only the latter occupies eastern part of the range. So, older records for T. nylanderi or T. crassispinus from the Caucasus should be attributed to this species.

   *Temnothorax interruptus (Schenck, 1852)

   Material. Localities: 4, 5, 7, 27. Number of specimens collected: 70 w., 1 q.

   Temnothorax cf. nadigi

   Material. Locality: 28. Number of specimens collected: 2 w.

   Notes. Our sample differs from typical T. nadigi (Kutter, 1925) from central Europe by unicolorous yellowish-brown head and mesosoma, less pronounced sculpture and higher petiole with longer peduncle. Two other taxa, T. caucasicus (Arnol’di, 1977) and T. hasardaghi (Dlussky et Zabelin, 1985), currently treated as synonym of T. nadigi, are known from the Caucasus and western Kopet Dag, respectively, so we cannot give certain species determination at this stage.

   *Temnothorax parvulus (Schenck, 1852)

   Material. Localities: 3, 8, 33, 39. Number of specimens collected:

   88 w., 2 q.

   *Temnothorax cf. recedens

   (Fig. 6)

   Material. Locality: 25. Number of specimens collected: 7 w.

   Notes. This sample belongs to T. recedens group, but it is not conspecific with any of the species of this group known from eastern Mediterranean, i.e. T. antigoni (Forel, 1911), T. finzii (Menozzi, 1925), T. recedens (Nylander, 1856), T. rogeri Emery, 1869 and T. solerii (Menozzi, 1936) [Salata, Borowiec, 2015] (L. Borowiec, pers. comm. 2019).

   Temnothorax shelkovnikovi (Karavaiev, 1926)

   Material. Locality: 30. Number of specimens collected: 17 w., 1 q.

   *Temnothorax tauricus (Ruzsky, 1902)

   Material. Locality: 4, 10, 15, 16, 25, 27, 34. Number of specimens

   collected: 150 w., 3 q.

   *Tetramorium cf. caespitum

   (Fig. 7)

   Material. Locality: 27. Number of specimens collected: 37 w.

   Notes. See notes under T. immigrans.

   *Tetramorium caucasicum Wagner, Arthofer, Seifert, Muster, Steiner et Schlick-Steiner, 2017

   Material. Locality: 42. Number of specimens collected: 2 w.

   Notes. See notes under T. immigrans.

   *Tetramorium chefketi Forel, 1911

   Material. Locality: 9. Number of specimens collected: 9 w.

   Tetramorium immigrans Santschi, 1927

   Material. Localities: 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,

   30, 31, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 46. Number of specimens collected:

   443 w.

   Notes. According to the latest taxonomical revision of the Tetramorium caespitum complex [Wagner et al., 2017], ten species are present in Europe. We collected four species of the complex, T. caucasicum, T. immigrans,

2. indocile, and one probably still undescribed species (T. cf. caespitum) not included in the mentioned revision. Out of them, T. immigrans was by far the most common, but also of all ants sampled in this study – it was found on 27 localities all together.

*Tetramorium indocile Santschi, 1927

Material. Localities: 10, 41. Number of specimens collected: 23 w.

Notes. See notes under T. immigrans.

*Tetramorium moravicum Novák et Sadil, 1941

Material. Localities: 11, 15. Number of specimens collected: 30 w.

*Tetramorium sulcinode Santschi, 1927

Material. Locality: 9, 30. Number of specimens collected: 13 w.

Trichomyrmex perplexus (Radchenko, 1997)

Material. Localities: 29, 30. Number of specimens collected: 20 w.

Discussion

The here presented list of ant species is based on the updated taxonomic species identification literature, so it is hard to compare it with old literature records. There may be several cases, where species listed here were cited under different name. For instance, literature records for Lasius emarginatus (Olivier, 1792) could refer to

L. illyricus, records for Messor structor most probably refer to M. muticus, and data for Tetramorium caespitum quite possibly represent some other species of the T. caespitum complex. Altogether, 30 species from our list can be characterised as new for the ant fauna of Azerbaijan. If we combine the list from Borowiec [2014] and our data, then 114 ant species are known for this country. This is similar number of species as in Armenia (119 species) [Arakelian, 1994; Borowiec, 2014], but noticeably lower compared to Georgia (142 species) [Gratiashvili, Barjadze, 2008]. However, due to geographical diversity of Azerbaijan, where Caucasus Mountains, lowland area of the Caspian Basin (Kura-Aras Lowland) and Talysh Mountains converge, many additional ant species can be expected to be found in this country. So far, Azerbaijanian ant fauna is represented by widely distributed Western Palaearctic or Transpalaearctic species (e.g. Camponotus fallax, Dolichoderus quadripunctatus, Formica cunicularia, F. sanguinea, Lasius brunneus, L. flavus, Myrmica ruginodis, Ponera coarctata, Tapinoma erraticum), by species distributed from the Mediterranean region to Central Asia (e.g. Camponotus aethiops, C. lateralis, Cataglyphis nodus, Crematogaster schmidti, Pheidole koshewnikovi), or from the Caucasus to Central Asia (e.g. Camponotus turkestanicus, Cardiocondyla brachyceps, Crematogaster subdentata, Lasius obscuratus, Monomorium ruzskyi, Tapinoma karavaievi), and by species more or less restricted to the Caucasus area (e.g. Aphaenogaster muschtaidica, Formica georgica, Lepisiota caucasica, Myrmica caucasicola, Strongylognathus rehbinderi, Temnothorax shelkovnikovi, Tetramorium caucasicum).

Seventy-three species found during our field work perhaps does not correspond with expectations on finding higher richness of the Azerbaijanian ant fauna. A possible reason could be the selected period of field work, as in August and September we were facing high daily temperatures and very dry conditions in the majority of visited habitats, which certainly reduces sampling efficiency. We predict that sampling in late spring or early summer would importantly supplement the species list for the country.

Acknowledgements

I kindly thank the following myrmecologists for help in the identification and information on certain species:

L. Borowiec (University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland),

S. Csősz (MTA-ELTE-MTM, Budapest, Hungary),

N. Gratiashvili (Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia) and

H. C. Wagner (ÖKOTEAM, Graz, Austria). I am grateful to M. Zagmajster (University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia) for preparing a map and useful comments and to T. Delić (University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia) for taking photos of ants.

References

AntWeb. Available at: http://www.antweb.org (accessed November 2018 – March 2019).

Arakelian G.R. 1994. Fauna Respubliki Armeniya. Nasekomyye pereponchatokrylyye. Murav’i (Formicidae) [Fauna of the Republic of Armenia. Hymenopterous insects. Ants (Formicidae)]. Yerevan: Gitutiun. 154 p. (in Russian).

Arnol’di K.V. 1948. Ants of Talysh and the Diabar depression. Their importance for the characterization of communities of terrestrial invertebrates and for historical analysis of the fauna. In: Trudy Zoologicheskogo instituta AN SSSR. Tom 7. Vypusk 3. Sbornik rabot po sistematike, zoogeografii i ekologii [Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the USSR. Vol. 7. Iss. 3. Collection of papers on the systematics, zoogeography and ecology]. Moscow – Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR: 206–262 (in Russian).

Arnol’di K.V. 1977. Review of the harvester ants of the genus Messor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the fauna of the USSR. Zoologicheskii zhurnal. 56: 1637–1648 (in Russian).

Bestelmeyer B.T., Agosti D., Alonso L.E., Brandão C.R.F., Brown Jr. W.L., Delabie J.H.C., Silvestre R. 2000. Field techniques for the study of ground-dwelling ants. In: Ants – Standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. (D. Agosti, J.D. Majer, L.E. Alonso,

T.R. Schultz eds). Washington, London: Smithsonian Institution Press: 122–144.

Biodiversity Assessment for Azerbaijan (Task Order under the Biodiversity & Sustainable Forestry IQC (BIOFOR)). 2000. Washington D.C.: Chemonics International Inc. 49 p.

Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Special issue – Monograph). 25(1–2): 1–340.

Borowiec L., Salata S. 2013. Ants of Greece – additions and corrections (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus. 24(3–4): 335–401.

Csősz S., Heinze J., Mikó I. 2015. Taxonomic synopsis of the Ponto- Mediterranean ants of Temnothorax nylanderi species-group. Plos One. 10(11): 1–62. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140000

Csősz S., Radchenko A., Schulz A. 2007. Taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic Tetramorium chefketi species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa. 1405: 1–38.

Csősz S., Salata S., Borowiec L. 2018. Three Turano-European species of the Temnothorax interruptus group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) demonstrated by quantitative morphology. Myrmecological News. 26: 101–119.

Csősz S., Schulz A. 2010. A taxonomic review of the Palaearctic Tetramorium ferox species-complex (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zootaxa. 2401: 1–29. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2401.1.1

Dlussky G.M. 1969. Ants of the genus Proformica Ruzs. of the USSR and contiguous countries (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoologicheskii zhurnal. 48: 218–232 (in Russian).

Dlussky G.M., Radchenko A.G. 1994. Ants of the genus Diplorhoptrum (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the central Palearctic. Zoologicheskii zhurnal. 73: 102–111 (in Russian).

Dlussky G.M., Zabelin S.I. 1985. Ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the River Sumbar Basin (south-west Kopetdag). In: Rastitel’nost’ i zhivotnyy mir Zapadnogo Kopetdaga [The vegetation and animal world of western Kopetdag]. Ashkhabad: Ylym: 208–246 (in Russian).

Dubovikoff D.A. 2002. A review of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Dagestan. Part 1. Subfamily Formicinae, tribe Formicini (excluding the genus Formica L.). Izvestiya Kharkovskogo entomologicheskogo obschestva. 9(1–2): 144–147 (in Russian).

Dubovikoff D.A. 2005. A new species of the genus Proformica Ruzsky, 1902 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from North Ossetia and key to identification of Proformica species of the Caucasisan Isthmus. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin. 1(2): 189–191 (in Russian). DOI: 10.23885/1814-3326-2005-1-2-189-191

Dubovikoff D.A., Radchenko A.G. 2010. Chalepoxenus hyrcanus – a new ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Azerbaijan. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin. 6(2): 207–208. DOI: 10.23885/1814-3326-

2010-6-2-207-208

Gratiashvili N., Barjadze Sh. 2008. Checklist of the ants (Formicidae Latreille, 1809) of Georgia. Preecedings of the Institute of Zoology. 23: 130–146. Gratiashvili N., Bernadou A., Suefuji M., Seifert B., Heinze J. 2014. The Caucaso-Anatolian slave-making ant Myrmoxenus tamarae (Arnoldi, 1968) and its more widely distributed congener Myrmoxenus ravouxi (André, 1896): a multidisciplinary comparison (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 14: 259–267. DOI:

10.1007/s13127-014-0174-6

Karavaiev V. 1926a. Beiträge zur Ameisenfauna des Kaukasus, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über andere palaearktische Formen. Konowia. 5: 93–109. Karavaiev V. 1926b. Beiträge zur Ameisenfauna des Kaukasus, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über andere palaearktische Formen. (Fortsetzung).

Konowia. 5: 161–169.

Karavaiev V. 1926c. Beiträge zur Ameisenfauna des Kaukasus, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über andere palaearktische Formen. (Schluss). Konowia. 5: 187–199.

Radchenko A.G. 1992. Ants of the genus Tetramorium (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the USSR fauna. Report 2. Zoologicheskii zhurnal. 71: 50–58 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G. 1994a. A review of the ant genus Leptothorax (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the central and eastern Palearctic. Communication 1. Subdivision into groups. Groups acervorum and bulgaricus. Vestnik zoologii. 6: 22–28 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G. 1994b. Identification table for ants of the genus Leptothorax (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from central and eastern Palearctic. Zoologicheskii zhurnal. 73: 146–158 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G. 1995. A review of the ant genus Leptothorax (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the central and eastern Palearctic. Communication 3. Groups nylanderi, korbi, nassonovi, and susamyri. Vestnik zoologii. 4: 3–11 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G. 1996a. Ants of the genus Plagiolepis Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of central and southern Palearctic. Entomologicheskoe obozrenie. 75: 178–187 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G. 1996b. A key to the ant genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Palearctic Asia. Zoologicheskii zhurnal. 75: 1195–1203 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G. 1997. Review of the ants of scabriceps group of the genus Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Annales Zoologici. 46: 211–224.

Radchenko A.G. 1998. A key to the ants of the genus Cataglyphis Foerster (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Asia. Entomologicheskoe obozrenie. 77: 502–508 (in Russian).

Radchenko A.G., Elmes G.W. 2010. Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Old World. Warszawa: Natura optima dux. 789 p. Radchenko A.G., Yusupov Z.M. 2017. New data on the ants of the genus Myrmica Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the North Caucasus. In: Trudy Russkogo entomologicheskogo obshchestva.

T. 88(2). Novye faunisticheskiye dannye po pereponchatokrylym nasekomym Rossii [Proceedings of the Russian Entomological Society. Vol. 88(2). A new faunistic data on the Hymenoptera of Russia]. St Petersburg: Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences: 44–52.

Radchenko A.G., Yusupov Z.M., Fedoseeva E.B. 2015. Taxonomic notes for some Caucasian Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with descriptions of three new species. Caucasian Entomological Bulletin. 11(1): 161–167. DOI: 10.23885/1814-3326-

2015-11-1-161-167

Ruzsky M. 1905. The ants of Russia (Formicariae Imperii Rossici). Systematics, geography and data on the biology of Russian ants. Part I. In: Trudy Obshchestva Estestvoispytateley pri Imperatorskom Kazanskom Universitete. T. 38, vyp. 4, 5 i 6 [Proceedings of the Society of Naturalists at the Imperial Kazan University. Vol. 38, iss. 4–6]. Kazan: Tipo-lithography of the Imperial University: 1–800 (in Russian).

Salata S., Borowiec L. 2015. Redescription of Temnothorax antigoni (Forel, 1911) and description of its new social parasite Temnothorax curtisetosus sp. n. from Turkey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys. 523: 129–148. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.523.6103

Salata S., Borowiec L. 2018. Redescription of Aphaenogaster muschtaidica Emery, 1908 with a key to gibbosa species group. Asian Myrmecology. 10: 1–15. DOI: 10.20362/am.010002

Salata S., Borowiec L. Radchenko A.G. 2018. Description of Plagiolepis perperamus, a new species from East-Mediterranean and redescription of Plagiolepis pallescens Forel, 1889 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annales Zoologici. 68(4): 809–824. DOI: 10.3161/00034 541ANZ2018.68.4.005

Schultz R., Seifert B. 2007. The distribution of the subgenus Coptoformica Müller, 1923 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Palaearctic Region. Myrmecological News. 10: 11–18.

Seifert B. 1992. A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic members of the ant subgenus Lasius s. str. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Görlitz. 66(5): 1–67.

Seifert B. 2000a. A taxonomic revision of the ant subgenus Coptoformica

Mueller, 1923 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoosystema. 22(3):

517–568.

Seifert B. 2000b. Rapid range expansion in Lasius neglectus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) – an Asian invader swamps Europe. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift. 47(2): 173-179.

Seifert B. 2002. A taxonomic revision of the Formica cinerea group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Görlitz. 74(2): 245–272.

Seifert B. 2003. The ant genus Cardiocondyla (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae) – a taxonomic revision of the C. elegans, C. bulgarica,

C. batesii, C. nuda, C. shuckardi, C. stambuloffii, C. wroughtonii,

C. emery, and C. minutior species groups. Annals of the Natural History Museum Wien. 104(B): 203–338.

Seifert B. 2011. A taxonomic revision of the Eurasian Myrmica salina species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Soil Organisms. 83(2): 169–186. Seifert B. 2012. A review of the West Palaearctic species of the ant genus Bothriomyrmex Emery, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Myrmecological News. 17: 91–104.

Seifert B. 2016. Inconvenient hyperdiversity – the traditional concept of “Pheidole pallidula” includes four cryptic species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Soil Organisms. 88(1): 1–17.

Seifert B. 2018. The ants of Central and North Europe. Tauer: Lutra Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft. 408 p.

Seifert B., Csösz S. 2015. Temnothorax crasecundus sp. n. – a cryptic Eurocaucasian ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) discovered by Nest Centroid Clustering. ZooKeys. 479: 37–64. DOI: 10.3897/ zookeys.479.8510

Seifert B., D’Eustacchio D., Kaufmann B., Centorame M., Lorite P., Modica M.V. 2017. Four species within the supercolonial ants of the Tapinoma nigerrimum complex revealed by integrative taxonomy (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News. 24: 123–144.

Seifert B., Galkowski C. 2016. The Westpalaearctic Lasius paralienus complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) contains three species. Zootaxa. 4132(1): 44–58. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4132.1.4

Seifert B., Schultz R. 2009a. A taxonomic revision of the Formica subpilosa Ruzsky, 1902 group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News. 12: 67–83.

Seifert B., Schultz R. 2009b. A taxonomic revision of the Formica rufibarbis Fabricius, 1793 group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News. 12: 255–272.

Steiner F.M., Csősz S., Markó B., Gamisch A., Rinnhofer L., Folterbauer C., Hammerle S., Stauffer C., Arthofer W., Schlick-Steiner B.C. 2018. Turning one into five: Integrative taxonomy uncovers complex evolution of cryptic species in the harvester ant Messor “structor”. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 127: 387–404. DOI: 10.1016/j. ympev.2018.04.005

Wagner H.C., Arthofer W., Seifert B., Muster C., Steiner F.M., Schlick- Steiner B.C. 2017. Light at the end of the tunnel: Integrative taxonomy delimits cryptic species in the Tetramorium caespitum complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News. 25: 95–129. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_025:095

Yusupov Z.M. 2014. On the fauna of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Teberda State Natural Biospheric Reserve. Vestnik Adygeyskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya “Yestestvenno-matematicheskiye i tekhnicheskiye nauki”. 4: 121–125 (in Russian).

Yusupov Z.M. 2017a. New discovery and supplements to fauna of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Kabardino-Balkarian state high-mountainous reserve (Central Caucasus). Part 1. Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. 19(5): 120–126 (in Russian).

Yusupov Z.M. 2017b. New discovery and supplements to fauna of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Kabardino-Balkarian state high-mountainous reserve (Central Caucasus). Part 2. Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra Rossiyskoy akademii nauk. 19(5): 127–133 (in Russian).

Received / Поступила: 26.03.2019 Accepted / Принята: 21.06.2019