Strongylognathus karawajewi Pisarski, 1966

Lapeva-Gjonova, Albena & Radchenko, Alexander G., 2021, Ant genus Strongylognathus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Bulgaria: a preliminary review, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 65742-65742 : 65742

Strongylognathus karawajewi Pisarski, 1966

Strongylognathus karawajewi Pisarski, 1966: 521, w, Ukraine; Radchenko 1985: 1519, q; Radchenko 1991: 88, m; all subsequent authors.

Strongylognathus karawajewi Pisarski, 1966: 521, w, Ukraine; Radchenko 1985: 1519, q; Radchenko 1991: 88, m; all subsequent authors.

Materials

Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: 3 workers on two pins, "???????, ????,?. ????????" [Magartsch, Crimea, A. Riazantzev], "4790. Coll. Karavaievi", "Strongylognathus testaceus Schenck Karawajew det.", "Strongylognathus karawajewi sp. n. det. B. Pisarski"; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera; family: Formicidae; genus: Strongylognathus; taxonRank: Species; Record Level: collectionCode: SIZK; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: 2 workers, "Magartsch, Crimée, A. Riazantzev", "Strongylognathus karawajewi sp. n. det. B. Pisarski"; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera; family: Formicidae; genus: Strongylognathus; taxonRank: Species; Record Level: collectionCode: MIIZ; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: 1 worker, "Krim, Magaratsch", "Strongylognathus karawajewi sp. n. det. B. Pisarski"; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera; family: Formicidae; genus: Strongylognathus; taxonRank: Species; Record Level: collectionCode: MIIZ; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: 1 worker, "Krim, Magaratsch, 23-III-1903, leg. Riazancev, Nr. 4790", "Strongylognathus karawajewi sp. n. det. B. Pisarski"; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera; family: Formicidae; genus: Strongylognathus; taxonRank: Species; Record Level: collectionCode: MIIZ; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 8; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Kardzhali; municipality: Kirkovo ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Dedetz vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 375; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.38; decimalLongitude: 25.2233; Event : eventDate: 27-04-2003; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 6; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Meden buk vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 124; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.3822; decimalLongitude: 26.017; Event : eventDate: 04-05-2009; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 5; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Meden buk vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 124; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.3822; decimalLongitude: 26.017; Event : eventDate: 09-04-2013; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 3; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Plovdiv; municipality: Karlovo ; locality: Stara planina, near Karnare vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 644; locationRemarks: in nests of Tetramorium cf. caespitum; decimalLatitude: 42.7168; decimalLongitude: 24.6343; Event : eventDate: 20-06-2014; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 25; sex: queens; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Plovdiv; municipality: Karlovo ; locality: Stara planina, near Karnare vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 644; locationRemarks: in nests of Tetramorium cf. caespitum; decimalLatitude: 42.7168; decimalLongitude: 24.6343; Event : eventDate: 20-06-2014; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 23; sex: males; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Plovdiv; municipality: Karlovo ; locality: Stara planina, near Karnare vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 644; locationRemarks: in nests of Tetramorium cf. caespitum; decimalLatitude: 42.7168; decimalLongitude: 24.6343; Event : eventDate: 20-06-2014; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 4; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Chernichino vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 657; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.5897; decimalLongitude: 25.8488; Event : eventDate: 03-05-2009; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 1; sex: male; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Chernichino vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 657; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.5897; decimalLongitude: 25.8488; Event : eventDate: 27-05-2012; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 12; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Chernichino vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 657; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.5897; decimalLongitude: 25.8488; Event : eventDate: 27-05-2012; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 4; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Chernichino vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 657; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium chefketi Forel , 1911; decimalLatitude: 41.5897; decimalLongitude: 25.8488; Event : eventDate: 27-05-2012; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 13; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Chernichino vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 657; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.5897; decimalLongitude: 25.8488; Event : eventDate: 07-04-2013; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 7; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Ivaylovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Chernichino vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 657; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium hungaricum Röszler, 1935; decimalLatitude: 41.5897; decimalLongitude: 25.8488; Event : eventDate: 01-05-2019; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 12; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Haskovo; municipality: Madzharovo ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , Gaberovo vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 535; locationRemarks: in a nest of Tetramorium chefketi Forel , 1911 together with queens of the host; decimalLatitude: 41.6297; decimalLongitude: 25.8940; Event : eventDate: 24-04-2012; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 1; sex: worker; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus karawajewi; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; stateProvince: Kardzhali; municipality: Krumovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , Malko Kamenyane vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 236; decimalLatitude: 41.4112; decimalLongitude: 25.6601; Event : eventDate: 29-04-2019; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

SEM images: Fig. 3

Conservation

Vulnerable D2 ver. 2.3 ( IUCN 2021)

Taxon discussion

Strongylognathus karawajewi was described, based on workers from the southern coast of Crimea (vill. Magarach, now Otradnoye near Yalta, material from the collection of W. A. Karawajew, ZISK) by Pisarski (1966). Later, it was recorded from the western Caucasus ( Arnoldi and Dlussky 1978), the Kopetdagh Mts. ( Dlussky and Zabelin 1985, Dlussky et al. 1990), Armenia and Hissar Range in Tadzhikistan ( Radchenko 1991) and Turkey ( Kiran et al. 2014); records of this species from China were based on misidentifications ( Radchenko et al. 2017). Queens of S. karawajewi were described by Radchenko (1985) from Crimea and males - from Crimea, Armenia and Tajikistan ( Radchenko 1991).

Strongylognathus karawajewi has been known as a social parasite of T. caespitum (s. l.), T. sulcinode Santschi, 1927, T. inerme Mayr, 1877, T. ferox Ruzsky, 1903 and T. feroxoide Dlussky & Zabelin, 1985 ( Pisarski 1966, Radchenko 1991, Radchenko 2016) and we found it in the nests of T. hungaricum and T. chefketi .

This species inhabits extremely xerothermic sites in Bulgaria at an altitude below 660 m. One of them is located in the Besaparski Hills in the Thracian plain - low calcareous ridges with typical steppe-like vegetation (Fig. 1 a), one in the southern foothills of the Stara Planina Mts. (Fig. 1 b) and five of them in the Eastern Rhodopes (Fig. 1 c). The Eastern Rhodopes are quite low with an average altitude of 320 m and with hilly slopes. The climate in this area is mild continental-Mediterranean with an average annual temperature 12°C.

Two species of the Strongylognathus testaceus species-group ( S. testaceus and S. karawajewi ) are known from the West Palaearctic and their separation is usually straightforward. The head dorsum in workers of S. karawajewi is usually completely smooth and shiny, fine striation may be present only on its sides, while at least frons and genae, but often whole head dorsum, is with well developed longitudinal rugosity in S. testaceus . The sculpture on the sides of mesosoma in males of S. karawajewi is strongly reduced, but it is at least partly coarsely rugulose and shagreened in S. testaceus ( Radchenko 1991, Radchenko 2016).

Figures

Figure 1. Photos of some collection sites: a - Thracian plain, Besaparski hills, near Ognyanovo vill. (habitat of Strongylognathus karawajewi); b - Stara planina, near Karnare vill. (habitat of S. karawajewi); c - Eastern Rhodopes, near Chernichino vill. (habitat of S. karawajewi and S. italicus); d - Eastern Rhodopes, near Gaberovo vill. (habitat of S. karawajewi and S. afer).

Figure 3. Strongylognathus karawajewi Pisarski, 1966: a, b - workers; c, d - gynes; e, f, g - males; a, c - head, dorsal view; b, d - mesosoma, lateral view; e - body, lateral view; f - male genitalia, stipites in dorsal view; g - male genitalia, stipites in ventral view.