Strongylognathus bulgaricus Pisarski, 1966, stat. rev.

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 bulgaricus Pisarski, 1966, stat. rev.

Strongylognathus huberi subsp. rehbinderi var. bulgarica Viehmeyer, 1922: 211, w, q, m, Bulgaria (unavailable name).

Strongylognathus rehbinderi subsp. bulgaricus : Pisarski 1966: 515 (first available use of name).

Strongylognathus bulgaricus : Bolton 1976: 306; Atanassov and Dlussky 1992: 158.

Strongylognathus bulgaricus Strongylognathus kratochvili Pisarski 1966 Strongylognathus bulgaricus Strongylognathus kratochvili

S. bulgaricus is revived from synonymy with S. kratochvili and synonymised with Strongylognathus christophi Emery, 1889: 439, q, Russia: Seifert 2018: 237 (latter not confirmed here).

Strongylognathus huberi subsp. rehbinderi var. bulgarica Viehmeyer, 1922: 211, w, q, m, Bulgaria (unavailable name).

Strongylognathus rehbinderi subsp. bulgaricus : Pisarski 1966: 515 (first available use of name).

Strongylognathus bulgaricus : Bolton 1976: 306; Atanassov and Dlussky 1992: 158.

Strongylognathus kratochvili Senior synonym of Strongylognathus kratochvili Šilhavý, 1937: 5, w, q, Czech Republic: Pisarski 1966: 515 ( Strongylognathus bulgaricus given as senior synonym, but Strongylognathus kratochvili has priority).

S. bulgaricus is revived from synonymy with S. kratochvili and synonymised with Strongylognathus christophi Emery, 1889: 439, q, Russia: Seifert 2018: 237 (latter not confirmed here).

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: P. Bezdecka; individualCount: 2; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus bulgaricus; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria; locality: Kardzhali ; Event : startDayOfYear: 24; endDayOfYear: 26; year: 1986; month: 04; Record Level : collectionCode: P. Werner; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 1; sex: worker; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus bulgaricus; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria ; stateProvince: Burgas; municipality: Tsarevo ; locality: Southern Black Sea coast ; minimumElevationInMeters: 5; decimalLatitude: 42.0233; decimalLongitude: 28.0083; Event : eventDate: 09-05-2009; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Other material. Occurrence: recordedBy: A. Lapeva-Gjonova; individualCount: 19; sex: workers; Taxon: scientificName: Strongylognathus bulgaricus; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Strongylognathus ; taxonRank: Species ; Location : country: Bulgaria ; stateProvince: Kardzhali; municipality: Krumovgrad ; locality: Eastern Rhodopes , near Dolna Kula vill. ; minimumElevationInMeters: 257; locationRemarks: xerothermic grassland; decimalLatitude: 41.5583; decimalLongitude: 25.6414; Event : eventDate: 19-04-2012; Record Level: collectionCode: BFUS; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

SEM images: Fig. 4

Conservation

Vulnerable D2 ver. 2.3 ( IUCN 2021)

Taxon discussion

The previous records of the species in Bulgaria are from northern Bulgaria - Veliko Tarnovo, Preobrazhenski Monastery (10 km from Veliko Tarnovo), Dryanovo, Veliki Preslav and one (Silistar) is on the southern Black Sea coast ( Viehmeyer 1922, Atanassov and Dlussky 1992, Lapeva-Gjonova and Kiran 2012). All northern Bulgarian sites are located in the Predbalkan geographic region, in a hilly and lowland area with an average altitude of 360 m.

Viehmeyer (1922) described S. huberi subsp. rehbinderi var. bulgaricus , based on all three castes from Veliko Tarnovo (northern Bulgaria), but this name is unavailable (quadrinomen). Pisarski (1966) used the first available name for this species, S. rehbinderi subsp. bulgaricus and considered it as a senior synonym of S. kratochvili Šilhavý, 1937, but the latter name has priority. It was later recorded for the country under the name S. bulgaricus by Atanassov and Dlussky (1992) and under the name S. kratochvili by Lapeva-Gjonova et al. (2010).

Recently, Seifert (2018) noted, without comments, that S. bulgaricus is not a synonym of S. kratochvili , but is a junior synonym of S. christophi . In our opinion, the proposed synonymy seems doubtful: the sculpture on the head dorsum in S. christophi is much coarser, the head is relatively shorter (CI = 1.10), the antennal scape is longer (SI> 0.70), the petiolar node with widely rounded dorsum and the propodeal dents are directed mostly backwards at an angle of ca. 45o. On the contrary, the sculpture on the head dorsum in S. bulgaricus is strongly reduced, its head is relatively longer (CI> 1.16), the antennal scape is shorter (SI <0.70), the petiolar node with much more narrowly rounded dorsum and the propodeal dents are directed almost upwards (Table 1 and our unpublished data; see also Forel 1900, Šilhavý 1937).

On the other hand, S. bulgaricus and S. kratochvili are very similar to each other in many subjective features (e.g. sculpture of the head and mesosoma, pilosity, shape of the propodeal dents etc.), but S. kratochvili differs from S. bulgaricus by noticeably larger body size (it is one of the largest Strongylognathus species, as Šilhavý has already emphasised). We agree with the proposed separation of these species (see Seifert 2018), but consider S. bulgaricus (at least tentatively) a good species.

Figures

Figure 4. Strongylognathus bulgaricus Pisarski, 1966, workers: a - head, dorsal view; b - body, lateral view.