Myrmecophilus hirticaudus Fischer von Waldheim, 1846

Stalling, Thomas & MACHÁýKOVÁ, Lenka, 2014, Synonymy of the ant-loving cricket Myrmecophilus termitophilus Ma an, 1959 (Orthoptera: Myrmecophilidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 54 (2), pp. 451-454 : 451-453

Myrmecophilus hirticaudus Fischer von Waldheim, 1846

Myrmecophilus hirticaudus Fischer von Waldheim, 1846: 357 , plate XXXIII.

Myrmecophilus ponticus Miram, 1927: 132–135 . Synonymized by GOROCHOV (1984a).

Myrmecophilus tataricus Karawajew, 1929: 65–66 . Synonymized by GOROCHOV (1984a).

Myrmecophilus termitophilus MaĜan, 1959: 63 , syn. nov.

Myrmecophilus zorae Karaman, 1963: 5 –6. Synonymized by STALLING (2014).

Type material examined. Myrmecophilus hirticaudus: Not examined.The holotype (from the peninsula of Crimea) is lost and its fate is unknown. Therefore the specimens from Armenia, Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia listed below were identi¿ed using the ¿gure shown by FISCHER VON WALDHEIM (1846) showing the characteristic coloration of the species, and the information given by FISCHER VON WALDHEIM (1846), MIRAM (1927), KARAWAJEW (1929) and GOROCHOV (1984a,b).

Myrmecophilus termitophilus : HOLOTYPE: J(in coll.National Museum, Prague):‘ Myrmecophilus / termitophilus / n. sp. / ii 1954 Holotypus ƃ / Dr. J. MaĜan det.// Taygetos v. 1935 / MaĜan lgt.u Reticulitermes lucifugus ’. PARATYPE: ♀ (in coll. National Museum, Prague): ‘ Myrmecophilus / termitophilus / n. sp. / ii 1954 Allotypus Ƃ / Dr. J. MaĜan det. // Taygetos 1700 m / v. 35 / MaĜan lgt. u Reticulitermes lucifugus ’.

Additional material examined. ARMENIA: LORI PROVINCE: Dzoraget , 40°56މ57ފN, 44°37މ34ފE, 1065 m, 4.viii.2011, 2 adult ♀♀, 1 adult J in nest of Camponotus sp. , 2 ♀♀ nymphs, 9 JJnymphs, 1 nymph of unknown sex in nests of Myrmica sp .; same locality, 5.viii.2011, 1 adult J in nest of Camponotus sp. , all leg. & coll. T. Stalling . CROATIA: ISLAND OF CRES: Primorje-Gorski Kotar county, Filožiüi , 45°04‘N, 14°20‘E, 11.v.2007, 1 adult ♀ in ant nest in dead wood, leg. & coll. S. Birrer ; same locality, 24.iv.2009, 1 nymph of unknown sex in nest of Crematogaster scutellaris (Olivier, 1791) in dead wood, leg. & coll. T. Stalling ; same locality, 2.x.2010, 1 adult J in ant nest under a stone, leg. S. Birrer & T. Stalling , coll. S. Birrer ; Sveti Petar , 45°04މN, 14°21މE, 2.x.2010, 1 adult ♀, 1 subadult ♀, 2 adult JJ in nest of Crematogaster scutellaris in dead wood, leg. S. Birrer & T. Stalling, coll. T. Stalling . REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA: Gevgelija, Smrdliva Voda , 41°11މ19ފN, 22°17މ49ފE, 665 m: 26.vii.2012, 1 adult J, 1 adult ♀ under stone without ants in a pine forest, leg. and coll. T. Stalling .

Taxonomic status of M. termitophilus . When describing the species, MAěAN (1959) only knew M. hirticaudus from the description of MIRAM (1927; described under name M. ponticus ) and he did not realize that his specimens belonged to this species. The adult male holotype of M. termitophilus ( Figs 1a,b ) and the adult female paratype (allotype, Fig. 1a ) both show characteristics of M. hirticaudus (cf. STALLING & BIRRER 2013), i.e., three spines on the metatarsus of each hind leg, which are positioned on the proximal, medial, and distal parts of the metatarsus (also shown by MAěAN (1959: Fig. 1 ), and uniform dark brown coloration. The subgenital plate of the female is emarginated distally. The diagnostic characters of M. termitophilus given by MAěAN (1959), i.e., three spines on the metatarsus instead of only two in M. hirticaudus and short cerci, are not helpful. Myrmecophilus hirticaudus usually has three spines on the metatarsus, but occasionally has only two (cf. STALLING & BIRRER 2013). The length of cerci does not differ between all the examined adult specimens mentioned above, including the types of M. termitophilus . For these reasons, Myrmecophilus termitophilus is here recognized as a junior synonym of Myrmecophilus hirticaudus .

Figures

Fig. 1. Type specimens of Myrmecophilus termitophilus MaĜan, 1959. a – habitus of male holotype (bottom) and female paratype (top) (scale bar 1 mm). b – detail of the metatarsus of the holotype with three spines (1–3) (scale bar 0.5 mm).