Six new species (: Formicidae) for the Rornanian myrmecofauna

BaIiNt MARK6

Abstrrct

The author presentssix new ant speciesfor the Rumanianfruna, describingtheir main characteristics,disiributional area and their habitat-preferences.These species are ttre following: Myrmica helienlca FOREL 1913, fufyrmica salinq RUZSKY 1905, CrematogQsterschmidti Bootvtsua & (lufan lt52), Lasiusparalienus Sen.Bnr 1992, neglecfiisVAr'I !99N, aUOnASrar,Vy1990, ud Formicabalcanina PETRoV & COLLbTGWOOD1993. The number of known ant speciesbecomes 82 for Romani4 which is still consideredlow by the author, who expectsthe real numberof speciesto exceed100.

Rezumet

$asespecii de furnici (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) noi pentru faunaRom0niei

in acea-*ehcrare autorul prezinti gasespecii de furnici noi pentru fauna Romeniei.Toto- datji sunt descrisecaracterele lor morfologice pebaza cdrora ele pot fi separatede speciilease- minitoare gi este prernntali gi distribufia lor pe t€ritoriul Europei 9i pe leritoriul Rominiei im- hel- preuni cu ireferinlele lor fap de habitat. Speciile prezentatesunt urm[toarele:Myrmica ientca F9REL 19L3,MyTmiia salina RUZSKY1905, Crematogasterschtnidti (MaVn 1852), Lasiuspralienus Seuinr 1992,Insius neglectusVAN LooN, BooMSldA & A}{DRASFALVY 1990gi-Nurnirul Formica balcanina PETRov & CorrntcwooD 1993. speciilor semnalatepe teritoriul Romdnieiastfel devine82, numir care esteinsd considerata fi prea mic, autorul considerAndci rnai mult de 100 de specii de furnici trebuie si existe tn Romfinia. Aceasti afirmafie este bazati pe faptul ci in Ungaria la momenflrlde fala sunt cunoscut€mai mult de 100 de specii de furnici, cu toate cL vaietatga biotopurilor din ac€asiliFrA est€mai micn in comparapiecu Rom6nia' kelvords: Formicidae,Romania" new species.

Introduction the several keys were used written by Agosti CoLLNGwooD (1987b), CoLL['{GwooD (1979), The first mymecologicalstudies crn the terri- Krrrrnn (1977), PErnov CoLLn'IGwooD(1993), tory of Rumaniawere carried out in the XD(th cen- andSBneRr(19881992). tury. Later, at the beginning of the XXth century Worrell and MUu,en sbdied the ant fauna of Tran- Presentationof the sPecies sylvania. ROsz.ER and MocsAnY, too, collectedin Transylvaniq the former even describeda few new SubfamilyMYrmicinae ant spebiesand subspecieswhich taxonomicalstatus is still unclear. From the 50's KltBctItEL and later l. Myrmica hellenicaFoREL 1913 PARAscHIvEScUbegan to study the Rumanian Its closest relatives are M. rugulosa myrmecofruna. PARAscHT\fEScupublished a Ru- NYr-AlrDER 1849 and M. specioides BoNlRon manian checklist in 1978, and he is still active. 1918. From thesetwo speciesit can be precisely = Additionally Ctnnu also contributed to the separatedon the basisof STnERT's(1988) index: I * * knowledgeofthe Rumanianants. HW / FR FL / FR PP / FIL, which amounts 0.E4790.0390 nM. ntgulosaI.0637 0.0614 (north- Methods ern populations)or 1.168 0.0790 (southernpopirla- tions) in Myrmica hellenica,and 1.4482 0.1017ur The author identifid each of the speciesbe- M. specioides(FIW - maximum head widft includ- low presented.The collectionswere madeusing pit- ing eyes, FR - minimum distance betweenfrontal frll traps and by hand, too, madeusing pitfall traps carina€.FL - maximum distanceof frontal lobes,PP and by fiee sampling,too. For the identification of

119 - maximum width of postpetiole, HL - maxrmum bank of salt-lakes. ln addition we collected it at head length) (SEFERT 1988). Vetiq village (Satu Mare county, in 1996,ca. 130m) Up to now it has been recorded from Greece, on a pasture near a cornfield inside the dams of the Italy, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland, Germany river Someq in North-Western Rumania (Manxo (SETERT 1988), from Poland (I{ADCTENKo et al. 1998). SBrrrRT (1988, 1993) also reports it from 1997), and from Yugoslavia, and Albania (Fn'lzt such xerotherunousareas. 1926 n SEFERT l9EE, BARONTUnnau t97t). In Up to now it was recorded frorn Germany, Rumania it was found in Transylvania so far, in the Slovakra,Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgana, South Russia, Criq-Strait (Bihor county, in 1995, cca. 270 m) on Kazakhstan, Altai and Novosibirskij Oblast' the bank of the river Criqul-Repede(MARKO 1998), (SEFERT 1988). It is worth of interestthat PeR,r- from the ,,Fdna,teleClujului" near Cluj-Napoca city SCHIYESCU(1972) didnt report Myrmica salina (Cluj county, in 1996, 370 m), from Silard (Mureg when studying severalsaline areasin Rumania. county, n 1997, cca. 550 m), and from Moacqa (Co- vasnacounty, rn 1997,590 m). Myrrnica hellenica is 3. Crematogaster (Acrocoelia) schmidli (Marn characteristic for sun-exposed,but only superficially 18s2) dry areas - e.g. riverbanks with sandy soils (SEFERT As a close relative of the Crematogaster 1988, 1993). In our casethis statementis valid. too, scutellaris (OLIVIER l79l) it was for a long time all sample-points wore these characteristics, even if handled as a subspeciesof this species(BARoNI UR- they were not all riverbanks. Ssmpnr (1988) consid- BANI l97l), and as such it might have been ommited ers Myrmica hellenica as being a specieswith pio- in Rumania. It is characterizedby a trapezoid petio- neer characters,due to the fact ttrat it mostly occurs' lus as C. scutellan.e,too, but it can be distinguished in unstable environment, like riverbanks, where the on the basis of its red coloured head. alitrunk and flood ensuresa constant instability. SEnpRr (1993) petiolarnodes. supposesthat its distributional center could be the This species is characteristic for submedrter- Balkans and Northem ltaly. ranean, and warm areas. It has been reported from Hungary (Ga[E et al, 1998), Bulgaria, Greece,and 2. Myrmica salina RuzsKY 1905 Yugoslavia (Agosti Corrnrcwooo 1987a). We Spmenr (1988) synonymizeMyrmica slovaca found it in Bd,ile Herculane (Carag-Severincounty, Sann 1952, as being in fact Myrmica salins in 1996 160 m) at the feet of the Domogled Moun- RuzsKY 1905. This specieshas a scape clearly an- tain (Southern Carpathians) at a forest side. This gled at the base with a sabuleti-lrke lobe. However, limestone area is characteized by submediterranean the characteristicshape of the petiolus, and the ratios climate. FIWFR and FL/FR (seepreviously) (Serenr 1988), which are sigmficantly higher than in sabulefi, sepa- Subfamily rate it well from this species(Fig. l.). 4. Lasius (Lasius) paralienus SETFERT1992 This speciesmakes part of the alienus-group of the Lasius subgenus along the L. alienus (FOx- slTR 1850),and the L. psammophilasSpn'sRT 1992 specieshaving normally 8-toothed mandibles and no setae on the scapes.A more robust body and darker brown colour than alienus or psammopluluscharac- terize it. Alike the psammophilus, it has 2-5 setaes on the area between the propodeal spiracle and the metapleural gland which distinguishes it well frorn alienus (Fig. 2 ), which has max. a single setae m this area. This character can be used efficiently - along with its darker colour - when carr5ring out quantitative studies in areas where paralienus and alienus occur together. It seernsthat it is almost as widespreadas the alienus in Rumania, and it certaurly has not been F.ig.1. Mirmica salina: above-leftits head,above-right its reported up to now due to its recent descriptionas a petiolus,below its scapus. separatespecies. It is characteristicfor xerothermous Along its specific morphological characters, steppeJike zones, and warm limestone areas, too. salina has specificity in its biotope-preference,too. Up to now it has been recordedfrom Turkey (Anato- It prefers soils with high salinity for instance the lia), South-Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, t20 Hungary, Germany and its northernmostrecord is T\e neglecta.r'scapes bear no setae,and this from Swedeir10t"nto1 (Sumenr 1992).The Balkan species nonnally has cca. Tdenticled mandibles, peninsulais supposedto be its distributional center which includes it in the bntnneus-group,along the (sErFERr1992 1993). Lasius brunneus(Larnnu,le 1798) and the Lasius lasioides(EMERY 1869). It's a slenderspecies with a paler body colour tllan L. brunneus,having not so contrastingcolour-combination. Up to now it has been recordedfrom France, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Turkey, and Iran (SEIFERT1992). It is supposedto be an urtro- duced speciesin West and Ceqtral Europe where in cities it can develophtrge polygyn supercoloniesof several 100 m2-s surfrce as in Budapest(flungary) (Tanreu,v pers. conrm.), whereas in its original area it is' consideredto be mainly monog5inous (Senrnr 1992).Its distributional centreis identified as Asia Minor and Transcaucasia.Snrurt supposes Itig. 2. Thepropodeal area of(above) Lasius paralienus that it could have been brought into Western and SetrrEnrand (below) of Lasiusalienus (FORSTER) Central Europeancountries for instancewith plants We collected this speciesfrom B5ile Hercu- for Botanical Gardens(SBmnr 1992) from South- lane (Carag-Severincounty, in 1996, 160 m) in the EasternEuropean and Westem Asian regions. surroundingsof the Domogled Mountain (Southern In Rumania it has been collected in the sur- Carpathians)a warm limestonearea closeto the Da- roundings of Biile Herculane (Caras-Severin nube in South-WestemRumania. In Transylvania county,in 1996, 160 m), a little townat the feet of - we collected it from a xerothermous steppe-like the DomogledMountain, a wanrL limestonearea habitat (Serenr arc*-, the Botanical Reserve ,,Fanaf€le Clujului" typical for this species 1992).It's (Cluj county,in 1995,c;ca. 370 m) nearthe city of colonies were found under stones,but we have no Cluj-Napoca,from Cojocna(Cluj county, in 1996, evidenceeither of the polygyny or of the monogyny 400 m) on a xerotlrerrnousgrassland, from St6nceni of thesecolonies. (Mure$ sunty, n 1997, cca. 600 m) at the feet of the Gurghiu Mountains 6.) Formica (Semitormica) balcanina Pnrnov & @astern Carpathians),and , close to Sovata town in the Gurghiu Mountains Colr,nccwooD 1993 , (Mureg@unty, 1996,cca. 1000m), too. It was also found in South-EasternRumania close to the Black Tlne Formica balcanina makes part of the cinerea-groupof the Serviformica Sea,in Bab"dagClulcea county, in 1995,cca. 80 m). subgenus.It is a Based on a long-term quantitative study we close relative of the Formica cinerea, and it was concludedthat the speciesparalienus and alienus separatedand described aS a separatespecies in more or less excludeeach other. The study was car- 1993. It can be safely distinguishedby the former ried out in the F6na[eleClujului and the paralienus speciesbased on its pubescence:this specieshas a proved to be dominatingin bush stretcheswhile the fringe of setaeon its hea4 which exte,lrdsfrom the alienus in open grasslands(MARKO unpubl. data). occiput round the head, down below the eyesto the The reciprocal exclusion was reported by SereRr genae(fig, 3,). On the other hand E cinereahas a (1992), too. By analysing several datasetshe con- fringe of hair extendingrpund the head not firrther cluded that thele was only an 5.8% habitat overlap than the levelofthe eyes,and has no or very few (1- of the two species(SEFERT 1992). 3) setaeon the gena€.(Pefnov & Cotrwcwooo 5. Lasius (Lasius) neglectus VAN LooN, lee3). BooMsMA & ANDRASFALVY1990 We collected F. balcanina at Bologa (Cluj This species has been synonprized by county,in 1995,cca. 400 m), at Ciucea(Cluj county, Snrrrnr (1992) as the polygyn form of the Lasius in 1995, cca. 350 m), in the Crigul Repederiver's turcicttsSANrsctu l92l basedon its morphological strait (Bihor county,in 1995, ccr,.270 m), at Alegd characters.Later he proposedthe separateuse ofZ. (Bihor county,in 1995,cca. 180m), at Fughru(Bi- neglectus.forthe Europeanforms which are reduced hor county,in 1995 140m) alongthe Crigul-Repede in size and suspectedto be polygyn, at leastas far as river's bank (MARKO1998). We also collectedit on further firm evidenceis not discoveredto support the bank of the Mureg river at Silard (Muregcounty, the full synonymy of these taxa (SETERTpers. n 1997,cca. 550 m), at Stdnceni(Mureg county, in comm.). 1997, c,cz.600 m), and in the valley of the river Mureqat Senetea(tlarghita county,n 1997,780m).

t2T ln Transylvania it was also collected from BulzeEti Discussions de Sus (Hunedoaracounty, in 1996, cca. 500 m, leg. URAK I ). In South-Western Rumania it was re- Based on PARASclilvEScvu,s Rumanian corded from Bdile Herculane (Caraq-Severincounty, checklist (PARASCHTvEScvUl97g) the number of rn 1996, 160 m). In South-EasternRumania it was known ant-speciesbecomes 82 from 76" Considerins recorded (Briila from Briila county, in 1996, cca. 30 the Hungarian checklist presented by Ganu et ai. m, Ieg. MACALtr( K.) near the Danube. All sample- (1998)" u'hich consistsof more than 100 species,we points can be characterized as xerotherrnous, warrn assumethat more than 100 ant speciesoccur in real- areas, or in the case of riverbhnks and of Seneteaas ity in Rumania, too. sun-exposedstretches and spots with low vegetation The above-presented species are corrunon cover and sandy or sandy-like soils. consideringtheir European distribution. Some of the species were currently described; some currently recognizedas separatespecies. provided these facts their occurrence is not considered as being unex- pected in Rumania.

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Dr. prof. Liiszl6 Gans for his help and advices, We are also gratefrl to Ivan Petrov and Bernhard SemeRr for confinning our determinations. J6zsef RUDNER, Kunigunda Mnc_ ALIK, Istvan UMK, and Tam6s UrvAnosl also helpedus considerablyin our work. I(; REFERENCES Ac,osn D. & CoruNcwooD C. A. l9g7a. A provi_ sional list of the Balkan ants (H1.rn.Formici- '/11 dae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Syr:- onymic List. - Mitt. Schweiz. Ent. Ges. 60: 5I-62. AcoSTr D. & Col.I-n\rcwooD C. A. l9g7b. A provi_ sional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formrci- dae) and a key to the worker caste. II. Key to the worker caste, including the European spe- ciep without - Fig. 3. The head of Formica balcanina prrRov & the Iberian. Mitt. Schweiz. Ent. CoLLrNcwooo Ges.60: 261-293. BARoNI URBANI, C. 1971: Catalogo delle specie dr Formeily this species presence was reported Formicidae d'ltalia. - Memoire della Societa from Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey by Per- EntomologicaItaliana, 50: 5-287. Rov & CottnvcwooD (1993), and recently from Coltnicwooo C. A. 1979 The Formicidae Slovenia,too, by GatrE (1998). Based on . this in- (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and formation it seems that the knorvn northernmost Denmark. - Fauna Entomologica Scan- point its of distribution is at Alegd (4705"), nearthe dinavica vol. 8., Klampenborg, Denmark. Crisul-Repede river. However, this species is con- Gaue L. 1998. Contribution to the ant fauna of sidered as one of the most xerotlerrnous Formica Slovenia with special reference to the Sub- species, and it seernsthat it is also an eurypotent mediterranean and Eudinaric regions. - An- species occupying quite a wide range of xero- nales - Annals for Istrian and Mediterranean thermous biotopes from the planes and steppe-like Studies.11(97): 2A9-214. areas up into the mountains. Its preference for river- Gau-B L., CS6SZ S., TARTALLYA.. KoVAcS E. banks also gives it pioneer a character, by bearing 1998. A check-list of Hungarian ants (Hy- the annual disturbance causedbv the flood. menoptera: Formicidae) - Folia entomol. hung., 59:213-220. Ku-rmR H. 1977 Hymenoptera, Formicidae. - In- sectaHelvetica. Fauna 6. Znich

t22 MARKOB. 1998. Contributionto the kncwledgeof Forrrricacinerea-group (f{yrnenoptera: Formi- the ant-fduna (Hymenoptera,Formicidae) of cidae).- Eur.J. Entornol.90: 349-354 the Crigul Repederiver valley., pp. 345-352, Rqocmwro A., Cz-EcHowsKlW., CzBcnowsxa in: SAnrAuy-Klss, A. & I{AMA& J. (eds.): W. 1997. The gems Myrmica Larn. (Hy- The Cris/tr(6r6s Rivers' Valleys - TISCIA menoptera"Formicidae) in Poland - a survey Monograph Series, Szolnok-Szeged-Tirgu of speciesand a key for their identifrcation.- Mureg. AnnalesZoologici (Warszawa),47(34): 48L- IWiRK6 B. (in press).Contribution to the knowledge 500. of the ant-faura (Flymenoptera:Formicoidea) SBrnRr B, 1988.A ta:

Bilint Man 6 Dept.ofZoology, Univ. Babes-Bolyai, str. Clinicilor5-7, RO-3400Cluj-Napoca

presentaddress: Dept.ofEcology, JATE University, HU-6701Szeged, P.O.Box 5l

Primitla redacfie/ Received:30.11.1998 Acceptat/ Accepted:2.04.1999. Apdnrt/ Printed:30.11.1999

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