Social Parasite Ants in the Alps: a New Site of the Vulnerable Myrmica myrmicoxena and New Uppermost Altitudinal Limit for M. microrubra
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v68i4.7276Keywords:
inquilinism, species rarity, social parasitism, IUCN, vulnerable species, ItalyAbstract
We conducted a survey on the Alpine fauna of one of the largest Natural Park of the Italian Alps (Stelvio National Park) in the framework of a broad ecological monitoring of Alpine biodiversity. A two-years standardized sampling employing pitfall traps along a 1200 m altitudinal gradient led to the discovery of two interesting inquiline social parasite ants of the genus Myrmica: M. myrmicoxena Forel, 1895 and M. microrubra Seifert, 1993. Myrmica myrmicoxena, which is classified as Vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List, was so far known from only three sites across a narrow geographic range between Italy and Switzerland. Our data support the previous hypothesis over its ecology and host association. Myrmica microrubra is considered an incipient species of high evolutionary interest, sometimes regarded as an intraspecific form of M. rubra. While having a wide distribution in Europe, its presence in Italy was hitherto known only from a single site, and our record extends its altitudinal distribution limit in Europe upwards by about 600 m.
Downloads
References
Baroni Urbani, C. (1971). Catalogo delle specie di Formicidae d'Italia (Studi sulla mirmecofauna d'Italia X). Mem. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 50: 5-287.
Bolton, B. 2021. An online catalog of the ants of the world. Available from https://antcat.org.
Buschinger, A. (2009). Social parasitism among ants: a review (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News, 12(3), 219-235.
Campanaro A., Toni I., Handerson S., Grasso D.A. (2011). Monitoring of Lucanus cervus by means of remains of predation (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) - Entomologia Generalis 33: 79-89.
Castracani C., F. A. Spotti, E. Schifani, D. Giannetti, M. Ghizzoni, D. A. Grasso, and A. Mori. (2020). Citizen science provides first insights on Po Plain ant communities and reveals the ubiquity of the cryptic invader Tetramorium immigrans (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Insects 11: 678.
Degueldre, F., Mardulyn, P., Kuhn, A., Pinel, A., Karaman, C., Lebas, C., ... & Aron, S. (2021). Evolutionary history of inquiline social parasitism in Plagiolepis ants. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 155, 107016.
Emery, C., (1909). Über den Ursprung der dulotischen, parasitischen und myrmekophilen Ameisen. Biol Zentrablatt. 29, 352–362.
Espadaler, X., & López-Soria, L. (1991). Rareness of certain Mediterranean ant species: fact or artifact?. Insectes Sociaux, 38(4), 365-377.
FOREL, A. 1895. Ueber den Polymorphismus und Ergatomorphismus der Ameisen. – Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte 66 (2, 1): 142-147.
Gibb H, Dunn RR, Sanders NJ, Grossman BF, Photakis M, Abril S, Agosti D, Andersen AN, Angulo E, Armecht I, Arnan X, Baccaro FB, Bishop TR, Boulay R, Brühl C, Castracani C, Cerda X, Del Toro I, Delsinne T, Diaz M, Donoso DA, Ellison AM, Enriquez ML, Fayle TM, Feener DH Jr, Fisher BL, Fisher RN, Fitzpatrick MC, Gómez C, Gotelli NJ, Gove A, Grasso DA, Groc S, Guénard B, Gunawardene N, Heterick B, Hoffmann B, Janda M, Jenkins C, Kaspari M, Klimes P, Lach L, Laeger T, Lattke J, Leponce M, Lessard JP, Longino J, Lucky A, Luke SH, Majer J, McGlynn TP, Menke S, Mezger D, Mori A, Moses J, Munyai TC, Pacheco R, Paknia O, Pearce-Duvet J, Pfeiffer M, Philpott SM, Resasco J, Retana J, Silva RR, Sorger MD, Souza J, Suarez A, Tista M, Vasconcelos HL, Vonshak M, Weiser MD, Yates M, Parr CL. 2017. A global database of ant species abundances. Ecology 98: 883–884.
Glaser F., 2003. Die Ameisenfauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) des Vinschgaus (Südtirol, Italien) eine vorläufige Artenliste. Gredleriana 3: 209-230.
Glaser, F. (2004). Verbreitung und Gefährdung von Ameisen (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Auen-und Uferlebensräumen der Etsch (Südtirol, Italien). Gredleriana, 4, 209-230.
Glaser, F., Michael, J., & Seifert, B. (2011). Rediscovered after 140 years at two localities: Myrmica myrmicoxena Forel, 1895 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News, 14, 107-111.
Glaser F., A. Freitag, and H. Martz. 2012. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Münstertal (Val Müstair) a hot spot of regional species richness between Italy and Switzerland. Gredleriana 12: 273 - 284.
Gobbi, M. (2020). Global warning: challenges, threats and opportunities for ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in high altitude habitats. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 66: 5-20.
Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (1990). The ants. Harvard University Press.
Homburg K., Drees C., Boutaud E., Nolte D., Schuett W., Zumstein P., von Ruschkowski E., Assmann T. 2019. – Where have all the beetles gone? Long‐term study reveals carabid species decline in a nature reserve in Northern Germany. - Insect Conservation and Diversity 12: 268–277
Jansen, G., Savolainen, R., & Vepsäläinen, K. (2010). Phylogeny, divergence-time estimation, biogeography and social parasite–host relationships of the Holarctic ant genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 56(1), 294-304.
Latella L., Pedrotti, L. & Gobbi M. (2019). Records of Cholevinae (Coleoptera: Leiodidae) sampled by pitfall traps in the Central Italian Alps. Journal of Insect Biodiversity, 13: 36-42. doi: 10.12976/jib/2019.13.2.3.
Le Moli F., and A. Zaccone. 1995. Ricerche sulla mirmecofauna del Cansiglio (Prealpi Carniche). Soc. Ven. Sc. Nat. 20: 33-52.
Leather S.R. 2017. “Ecological Armageddon”-more evidence for the drastic decline in insect numbers. - Annals of Applied Biology 172: 1–3.
Leppänen, J., Vepsäläinen, K., & Savolainen, R. (2011). Phylogeography of the ant Myrmica rubra and its inquiline social parasite. Ecology and Evolution, 1(1), 46-62.
Leppänen, J., Seppä, P., Vepsäläinen, K., & Savolainen, R. (2015). Genetic divergence between the sympatric queen morphs of the ant Myrmica rubra. Molecular ecology, 24(10), 2463-2476.
Leppänen, J., Seppä, P., Vepsäläinen, K., & Savolainen, R. (2016). Mating isolation between the ant Myrmica rubra and its microgynous social parasite. Insectes Sociaux, 63(1), 79-86.
Pearson, B., & Child, A. R. (1980). The distribution of an esterase polymorphism in macrogynes and microgynes of Myrmica rubra Latreille. Evolution, 34(1), 105-109.
Radchenko, A., & Elmes, G. W. (2003, January). A taxonomic revision of the socially parasitic Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Palaearctic region. In Annales Zoologici (Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 217-243).
Radchenko, A., & Elmes, G. W. (2010). Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the old world (p. 789). Warszawa: Natura optima dux Foundation.
Schär, S., & Nash, D. R. (2014). Evidence that microgynes of Myrmica rubra ants are social parasites that attack old host colonies. Journal of evolutionary biology, 27(11), 2396-2407.
Schifani, E. (2017). First record of the vulnerable social parasite ant Plagiolepis grassei in Italy (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fragmenta entomologica, 49(1), 61-64.
Schifani, E., Castracani, C., Spotti, F. A., Giannetti, D., Ghizzoni, M., Gobbi, M., ... & Grasso, D. A. (2020). Ergatandromorphism in the Ant Myrmica lobulicornis Nylander, 1857 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Sociobiology, 67(2), 330-334.
Scupola A. 2018. The ants of Veneto. WBA Handbooks 9, WBA Project Ed., Verona, 336 pages.
Seifert, B. (1994). Taxonomic description of Myrmica microrubra n. sp.-a social parasitic ant so far known as the microgyne of Myrmica rubra (L.). Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Görlitz, 67(5), 9-12.
Seifert B. 2018. Ants of Northern and Central Europe. Lutra.
Seppä, P., & Pamilo, P. (1995). Gene flow and population viscosity in Myrmica ants. Heredity, 74(2), 200-209.
Sielezniew M., D. Patricelli, I. Dziekanska, F. Barbero, S. Bonelli, L. P. Casacci, M. Witek, and E. Balletto. 2010. The frst record of Myrmica lonae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as a host of the socially parasitic large blue butterfly Phengaris (Maculinea) arion (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Sociobiology 56(2): 465-.
Mei, M.. "Nuovi reperti de formicidi per l'Italia centrale (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)." Bollettino dell'Associazione Romana di Entomologia 37 (1984): 49-58.
SOCIAL INSECTS SPECIALIST GROUP. 1996. Formicidae. In: 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available from: http://www.iucnredlist.org
Spotti, F. A., Castracani, C., Grasso, D. A., & Mori, A. (2015). Daily activity patterns and food preferences in an alpine ant community. Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 27(3), 306-324.
Steiner, F. M., Schlick‐Steiner, B. C., Konrad, H., Moder, K., Christian, E., Seifert, B., ... & Buschinger, A. (2006). No sympatric speciation here: multiple data sources show that the ant Myrmica microrubra is not a separate species but an alternate reproductive morph of Myrmica rubra. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 19(3), 777-787.
Visicchio, R., Mori, A., Grasso, D.A., Castracani, C., Le Moli, F. (2001). Glandular sources of recruitment, trail, and propaganda semiochemicals in the slave-making ant Polyergus rufescens. Ethology Ecology and Evolution 13(4): 361-372
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Enrico Schifani, Cristina Castracani, Fiorenza Augusta Spotti, Daniele Giannetti, Martina Ghizzoni, Mauro Gobbi, Valeria Lencioni, Luca Pedrotti, Donato Antonio Grasso, Alessandra Mori
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Sociobiology is a diamond open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
eISSN 2447-8067
