Temnothorax nassonovi ( RUZSKY, 1895 )

Radchenko, A., 2004, A Review Of The Ant Genera Leptothorax Mayr And Temnothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Of The Eastern Palaearctic, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 50 (2), pp. 109-137 : 126-128

Temnothorax nassonovi ( RUZSKY, 1895)

( Figs 33, 34 )

Leptothorax nassonovi RUZSKY, 1895: 26 , workers, Russia, vicinity of Simbirsk and Orenburg Region; 1905: 579; COLLINGWOOD, 1976: 303; KUPYANSKAYA, 1990: 143–144 (queens, males); RADCHENKO, 1994 b: 155; 1995 c: 9; BOLTON, 1995: 240; KIM, 1996: 176; KIM, 2003: 2; LYU & CHO, 2003: 272.

Leptothorax nassonovi var. subnudus RUZSKY, 1905: 581 , workers, China, Manchuria; synonymy by: RADCHENKO, 1995 c: 9 (provisional).

Leptothorax galeatus WHEELER, 1927: 1 , worker, China, Tsinghua; 1929: 8; CHAPMAN & CAPCO, 1951: 254; RADCHENKO, 1994 b: 156; BOLTON, 1995: 239; WU & W ang, 1995: 108; RADCHENKO, 1996: 18, syn. nov.

Leptothorax nassonovi firssovi KUZNETSOV-UGAMSKY, 1928: 28 , workers, Russia, Primorsky Region, Okeanskaya; PISARSKI, 1969 a: 225; 1969 b: 302 (misspelled as frissovi), synonymy by: KUPYANSKAYA, 1990: 143.

Temnothorax nassonovi : BOLTON, 2003: 271.

Material examined. Syntypes of L. nassonovi : 2 workers, vicinity of Simbirsk , vi.1894 ( ZMMU) ; non-type material: several hundred workers, dozens of queens and males from Ukraine, Southern European Russia, South Siberia , Mongolia, North-East China, Russian Far East and North Korea ; lectotype and paralectotype of L. nassonovi firssovi : 2 workers, “ Okeanskaya , vi.[19]26, Kuznetsov-Ugamsky ” (designated by RADCHENKO 1995 c) ( ZMMU) ; holotype of L. galeatus : worker, “Tsinghua, nr. Peking, China, N. Gist Gee ”, “ M.C.Z. Type 21025”, “ Syntypes Leptothorax galeatus WHEELER ” (see also Notes below) ( MCZ) .

(40, 41) waist in profile; (34, 36, 38) head, dorsal view (in Figs 34, 35, 40 and 41 punctures omitted)

Distribution. Steppe and forest-steppe zones from the eastern Ukraine to the Pacific Ocean, Tien-Shan; absent from Japan.

Ecology. It inhabits mainly steppe and dry meadows, nests are built in soil.

Notes. Investigation of the types of L. nassonovi and subsp. firssovi confirms the synonymy established by KUPYANSKAYA (1990) (see also RADCHENKO, 1995 c).

The types of the var. subnudus seem to be lost. RUZSKY (1905) noted that this variety differs from the “typical” T. nassonovi by the very sparse standing hairs on the body (sometimes hairs are totally absent), by a somewhat different colour of the head dorsum, and the presence of the yellow spot at the base of the first gastral tergite. The two latter features are quite variable, but the absence of standing hairs is a quite significant character. Conspecificity (or dissimilarity) of these two forms can be definitely resolved only after obtaining an additional material from the type locality (Manchuria) of var. subnudus .

I have investigated 2 workers of L. galeatus , preserved in the collection of MCZ. One worker labelled “ Peking, China, P. H. Lefivre ”, “ M.C.Z. Type 7 21025” was designated by A. Schulz in 1997 as the lectotype, and a second specimen from Tsinghua (for details see above) is labelled as paralectotype. Nevertheless, WHEELER (1927) described L. galeatus based only on “A single specimen from Tsinhgua (Gee)” (loc. cit., p. 2), which is the holotype according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. The second specimen from Peking, designated as the lectotype, does not belong to the type series .

This species without any doubt is a junior synonym of T. nassonovi . The differences between this species and T. argentipes are given above, in the Notes to the latter species.

Figures

Figs 32–41. Details of structure of workers of Temnothorax mongolicus (holotype, 32), T. nassonovi (33, 34),T. spinosior (syntype, 35), T. taivanensis (syntype, 36, 37) and T. wui (syntype, 38, 39), Leptothorax muscorum (40) and L. oceanicus (41) (32, 34, 35, 37, 39). Alitrunk and waist in profile;