The Myrmecofauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Hungary: Survey of Ant Species with an Annotated Synonymic Inventory

Abstract

Ants (Hymenoptera: Forimicidae) are exceedingly common in nature. They constitute a conspicuous part of the terrestrial animal biomass and are also considered common ecosystem engineers. Due to their key role in natural habitats, they are at the basis of any nature conservation policy. Thus, the first step in developing adequate conservation and management policies is to build a precise faunistic inventory. More than 16,000 valid ant species are registered worldwide, of which 126 are known to occur in Hungary. Thanks to the last decade’s efforts in the Hungarian myrmecological research, and because of the constantly changing taxonomy of several problematic ant genera, a new checklist of the Hungarian ants is presented here. The state of the Hungarian myrmecofauna is also discussed in the context of other European countries’ ant fauna. Six species (Formica lemani, Lasius nitidigaster, Tetramorium immigrans, T. staerckei, T. indocile and Temnothorax turcicus) have been reported for the first time in the Hungarian literature, nine taxon names were changed after systematic replacements, nomenclatorial act, or as a result of splitting formerly considered continuous populations into more taxa. Two species formerly believed to occur in Hungary are now excluded from the updated list. All names are nomenclaturally assessed, and complete synonymies applied in the Hungarian literature for a certain taxon are provided. Wherever it is not self-evident, comments are added, especially to explain replacements of taxon names. Finally, we present a brief descriptive comparison of the Hungarian myrmecofauna with the ant fauna of the surrounding countries. The current dataset is a result of ongoing work on inventorying the Hungarian ant fauna, therefore it is expected to change over time and will be updated once the ongoing taxonomic projects are completed.

Functional composition of ant assemblages in habitat islands is driven by habitat factors and landscape composition

“…In total, 19,713 ant specimens belonging to 33 species and 4 subfamilies were collected and identified from the 158 surveyed mounds. The 33 species represented about 26% of the ant fauna of Hungary 42 . Species belonged to subfamilies Myrmicinae (15 species), Formicinae (13), Dolichoderinae (3) and Ponerinae (2).…”

Semioquímicos asociados al seguimiento de rastros de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): una revisión sistemática

“…Son insectos de gran diversidad, ya que se han identificado alrededor de 11,000 a 16,000 especies (26 subfamilias y 428 géneros). Se estima que, por cada 10 kg de insectos, de 3 a 4 kg son hormigas (Azhagu et al, 2017;Huber, 2017;Diamé et al, 2018;Vander Meer & Alonso, 2019;Csősz et al, 2021). Estos invertebrados son de gran relevancia por los servicios ecosistémicos que ofrecen en la mayoría de los ambientes terrestres donde establecen sus colonias, ya que modifican o crean hábitats para otras especies, por lo que se les consideran ingenieros del ecosistema (Leite et al, 2018;Wills & Landis, 2018;De Almeida et al, 2020).…”

Checklist and distribution of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) within an ecologi-cally diverse southern African ecoregion: Eswatini

“…However, smaller organisms such as insects have not been documented as extensively by comparison and as such, no comprehensive checklist has been compiled for ants within the country. Ants are a significant component of biomass in terrestrial ecosystems but are notoriously known as pests (Bharti et al 2016;Csősz et al 2021). However, they are one of the most ecologically important groups, providing various ecosystem services and thus contribute to the integrity of ecosystems; services include biological control through predation and scavenging, nutrient recycling, soil turning and pollination, elevating them to be of ecological and conservation importance (Folgarait 1998;Andersen et al 2004;Diamé et al 2017;Mauda et al 2017).…”