New and little-known ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Bulgaria

Abstract

Many faunistic studies on the myrmecofauna of Bulgaria have been carried out and about 180 ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from 43 genera and six subfamilies have been discovered as a result. Although the Bulgarian ant fauna is considered to be relatively well studied, the finding of unrecorded species continues, especially amongst the rare social parasites and the species with a more southern distribution in the Balkans. The current study presents data on 11 ant species recorded for the first time in Bulgaria (Messor hellenius Agosti & Collingwood, 1987, M. mcarthuri Steiner et al., 2018, Crematogaster ionia Forel, 1911, Monomorium monomorium Bolton, 1987, Temnothorax aeolius (Forel, 1911), T. cf. exilis ( form darii Forel, 1911), T. finzii (Menozzi, 1925), T. rogeri Emery, 1869, Tetramorium cf. punicum, Plagiolepis xene Stärcke, 1936 and Lasius reginae Faber, 1967), as well as new locality data on 15 rarely found species. Some of the species, such as Hypoponera eduardi (Forel, 1894), Strumigenys argiola (Emery, 1869), Temnothorax graecus (Forel, 1911), Tetramorium diomedeum Emery, 1908, Camponotus ionius Emery, 1920 and C. tergestinus Müller, 1921, have been known so far only from a single locality in Bulgaria. The dataset of all records presented in this work was published separately through Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, https://doi.org/10.15468/mngbzp).