Temnothorax gordiagini

Temnothorax gordiagini
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Temnothorax
Species:	T. gordiagini
Binomial name
	Temnothorax gordiagini; (Ruzsky, 1902) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
	Myrmetaerus microcellatus Soudek, 1925; Myrmoxenus gordiagini menozzii Finzi, 1924;

At a Glance

• Dulotic

Photo Gallery

A queen (left), having penetrated a host nest, "throttles" the host colony queen to death. The adult host workers do not defend themselves from this attack. Photo by W. Faber.
A worker scout has detected a colony of the host species. On a short-lived pheromone trail the scout (far right) leads a column of nestmates, all slavemakers, towards the entrance of the slave species nest.

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 45.55972222° to 37.15°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Russian Federation (type locality), Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Biology

Association with Other Organisms

Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

This species is a slave-maker of the following species (Buschinger et al., 1984):

Life History Traits

Queen number: monogynous (Frumhoff & Ward, 1992)

Castes

Images from AntWeb


Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0178548. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.


Male (alate). Specimen code casent0178549. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.


Worker. Specimen code casent0178550. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.


Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0178551. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.


Lectotype of Myrmoxenus gordiagini. Worker. Specimen code casent0904773. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

gordiagini. Myrmoxenus gordiagini Ruzsky, 1902b: 475, figs. A-H (1-8) (w.q.m.) RUSSIA. Combination in Epimyrma: Bolton, 1995b: 188; in Myrmoxenus: Schulz & Sanetra, 2002: 159; in Temnothorax: Ward et al., 2014: 15. Senior synonym of menozzii and provisional senior synonym of microcellatus: Buschinger, Winter & Faber, 1984: 336. See also: Kupyanskaya, 1990: 145.
menozzii. Myrmoxenus gordiagini subsp. menozzii Finzi, 1924b: 120 (q.m.) ITALY. Junior synonym of gordiagini: Buschinger, Winter & Faber, 1984: 336.
microcellatus. Myrmetaerus microcellatus Soudek, 1925a: 33, figs. 1-6 (w.q.) YUGOSLAVIA. [Also described as new by Soudek, 1925b: 14.] Provisional junior synonym of gordiagini: Buschinger, Winter & Faber, 1984: 336.

Type Material

Bezděčková et al. (2017) - Myrmetaerus microcellatus: Two syntypes are deposited in National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic (both dry-mounted, glued on rectangular card labels):

SYNTYPE (1 dealate queen): ‘Savina / Boka Kotorská // VII. 1923 // Myrmetaerus / microcellatus // Publ.: / Entomol. Record / XXXVII. 1925 – Pag. 33 // Typus / queen // Lectotypus [p] queen / Myrmetaerus / microcellatus / Soudek, 1925 / Bouček det. 1963 [hw, red label] // Mus. Nat. Pragae / Inv. [p] 25.479 [hw] // Syntypus / (Bezděčková et al. 2017) [p, red label]’;
SYNTYPE (1 worker): ‘Savina / Boka Kotorská /, VII. 1923 // Myrmetaerus / microcellatus / Sdk. [hw] // Typus [hw] // Publ.: / „Entomol. Record“ / XXXVII. 1925 – Pag. 33. // Mus. Nat. Pragae / Inv. [p] 25.480 [hw] // Syntypus / (Bezděčková et al. 2017) [p, red label]’.

Remarks. One of the above cited specimens was labelled as a “Lectotypus”, but its designation has never been published, so we consider both specimens syntypes.

Description

Karyotype

See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

n = 10 (Croatia) (Buschinger et al., 1983; Fischer, 1987) (as Myrmoxenus gordiagini).

Worker Morphology

Explore: Show all Worker Morphology data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

Caste: monomorphic

References

Bezděčková, K., Bezděčka, P., Macek, J., Malenovský, I. 2017. Catalogue of type specimens of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) deposited in Czech museums. Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 57(1): 295-308 (doi:10.1515/aemnp-2017-0076).
Buschinger, A. 1989a. Evolution, speciation, and inbreeding in the parasitic ant genus Epimyrma (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2: 265-283.
Buschinger, A.; Winter, U.; Faber, W. 1984 [1983]. The biology of Myrmoxenus gordiagini Ruzsky, a slave-making ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 90: 335-342.
Kiran, K., Karaman, C. 2020. Additions to the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoosystema 42(18), 285-329 (doi:10.5252/zoosystema2020v42a18).
Kupyanskaya, A. N. 1990a. Ants of the Far Eastern USSR. Vladivostok: Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 258 pp. (page 145, see also)
Ruzsky, M. 1902b. Neue Ameisen aus Russland. Zool. Jahrb. Abt. Syst. Geogr. Biol. Tiere 17: 469-484 (page 475, figs. A-H 1-8 worker, queen, male described)
Schifani, E., Csősz, S., Viviano, R., Alicata, A. 2021. Ant diversity on the largest Mediterranean islands: on the presence or absence of 28 species in Sicily (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Natural History Sciences 8, 55–70 (doi:10.4081/nhs.2021.532).
Schulz, A.; Sanetra, M. 2002. Notes on the socially parasitic ants of Turkey and the synonymy of Epimyrma (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Entomofauna 23(14): 157-172 (page 159, Combination in Myrmoxenus)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Bezdeckova K., P. Bexdecka, J. Macek, and I. Malenovsky. 2017. Catalogue of type specimens of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) deposited in Czech museums. Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 57(1): 295-308.
Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2012. Ants of Greece - Checklist, comments and new faunistic data (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus 23(4): 461-563.
Bracko G. 2010. First record of a slave-making ant Myrmoxenus gordiagini Ruzsky, 1902 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Slovenia. Acta Entomologica Slovenica. 18: 137-142.
Bracko, G. 2006. Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) of Croatia. Acta Entomologica Slovenica 14(2): 131-156.
Czechowski W., A. Radchenko, W. Czechowska and K. Vepsäläinen. 2012. The ants of Poland with reference to the myrmecofauna of Europe. Fauna Poloniae 4. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 1-496 pp
Dubovikoff D. A., and Z. M. Yusupov. 2018. Family Formicidae - Ants. In Belokobylskij S. A. and A. S. Lelej: Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Proceedingss of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 6: 197-210.
Finzi, B. "Secondo contributo alla conoscenza della fauna mirmecologica della Venezia Giulia." Bollettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 56 (1924): 120-123.
Heinze J., A. Buschinger, T. Poettinger, M. Suefuji. 2015. Multiple convergent Origins of workerlessness and inbreeding in the socially parasitic ant genus Myrmoxenus. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0131023. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131023
Karaman M. G. 2011. A catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Montenegro. Podgorica: Catalogues 3, Volume 2, Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, 140 pp.
Kupianskaia A.N. 1990. Murav'I (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Dal'nego Vostoka SSSR (1989). Vladivostok. 258 pages.
Petrov I. Z., and C. A. Collingwood. 1992. Survey of the myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Yugoslavia. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 44: 79-91.
Salata S., and L Borowiec. 2017. Species of Tetramorium semilaeve complex from Balkans and western Turkey, with description of two new species of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 62:279–313.
Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131.
Schulz, A., and M. Sanetra. "Notes on the socially parasitic ants of Turkey and the synonymy of Epimyrma (Hymenoptera: Formcidae)." Entomofauna, Zeitschrift für Entomologie 23 (14) (2002): 157-172.
Vesni? A. 2011: Revidirani sistematski prijegled mrava Bosne i Hercegovine. Unutar : S. Lelo (urednik), Fauna Bosne i Hercegovine Biosistematski pregledi. 7. izmijenjeno i popravljeno interno izdanje Udruenja za inventarizaciju i zatitu ivotinja, Ilija, Kanton Sarajevo, pp: 205-207.