Messor hellenius Agosti & Collingwood, 1987

Lapeva-Gjonova, Albena & Borowiec, Lech, 2022, New and little-known ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Bulgaria, Biodiversity Data Journal 10, pp. 83658-83658 : 83658

Messor hellenius Agosti & Collingwood, 1987

Distribution

New records: Ograzhden Mt.: Drenovo vill., 06.04.2010, 7 w., leg. ALG; Churilovo vill., 10.09.2021, 1 q., 3 w., leg. ALG; East Rhodopes: Meden buk vill., 22.02.2012, 3 w., leg. ALG (Fig. 1 ); Dolna Kula vill., 19.04.2012, 1 q., 3 w.; same place, 23.04.2021, 1 q., 15 w., leg. ALG; North Black Sea coast, Varna, Morska Gradina Park, 20.07.2017, 10 w., leg. ALG; Struma Valley, Lebnitsa vill., 06.08.2019, 13 w., leg. ALG (Fig. 2 ); Burgas District, Tranak vill., 01.01.2021, 5 w., leg. M. Mohamed; Pirin Mt., Stara Kresna vill., 11.05.2021, 12 w., leg. ALG; Southern Black Sea coast: Chernomorets, 20.07.2006, 5 w., leg. and det. L. Borowiec (DBET); Primorsko, 27.05.2011, 6 w., leg. ALG; Maslen nos cape, 04.06.2021, 20 w., leg. ALG. Detailed occurrence data: Lapeva-Gjonova and Borowiec (2022).

Notes

First record for Bulgaria. This species is known from Greece, the western coast of Anatolia and the European part of Turkey ( Salata and Borowiec 2019a, Kiran and Karaman 2020). Borowiec and Salata (2018) suggested that the previous records of M. capitatus (Latreille, 1798) from eastern parts of the Balkan Peninsula concern M. hellenius . In this regard, it is very likely that the data on M. capitatus from the northern Black Sea coast ( Markó and Csősz 2002) refer to M. hellenius .

Figures

Figure 1. Messor hellenius, major lateral: dark specimen from Meden buk vill.; scale bar 1 mm.

Figure 2. Messor hellenius, major lateral: pale specimen from Lebnitsa vill.; scale bar 1 mm.