Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 93. (Budapest 2001)

Csősz, S.: Taxonomical and distributional notes on two new and a rare Leptothorax Mayr, 1855 species for the Hungarian ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

ANNALES HISTORICO-NATURALES MUSEI NATIONALIS HUNGARICI Volume 93 Budapest, 2001 pp. 99-106. Taxonomical and distributional notes on two new and a rare Leptothorax Mayr, 1855 species for the Hungarian ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) S. Csősz Department of Ecology, Szeged University, H-6701 Szeged, Egyetem it. 2, Hungary E-mail: csosz.s@bio.u-szeged.hu CSŐSZ, S. (2001): Taxonomical and distributional notes on two new and a rare Leptothorax species for the Hungarian ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). - Annales historico-natitrales Musei nationalis hungarici 93: 99-106. Abstract - Three species of the genus Leptothoraxhiwe been reported for the Hungarian fauna. Two ant species, Leptothorax nigriceps MAYR, 1855 and Leptothorax sordiduius saxonicus SEIFERT, 1995 are new for the Hungarian ant fauna. Leptothorax gredleri M AYR, 1855 was hitherto reported from only two localities. The wast majority of the L. muscorum (NYLANDER, 1846) proved to be L. gredleri MAYR, which is a much more common species in Hungary than they thought before. Morphological and distributional characteristics of these species are presented. With 5 figures. Key words - Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Leptothorax, Hungary. INTRODUCTION New methods applied in ant taxonomy, such as biometrical analysis and genetic technics, gave rise to a considerable number of species, or at least taxonomical uncertainities in the last few decades. In case of the genus Leptothorax, for example, Leptothorax slavonicus SEIFERT, 1995 and Leptothorax sordiduius saxonicus SEIFERT, 1995 were described, and the forgotten name Leptothorax albipennis (CURTIS, 1854) was recised. ORLEDGE (1998), based on a rich material, including the type specimens of L. albipennis (CURTIS) showed that L. albipennis is a senior synonym of L. tuberointerruptus FOREL, 1915. The species of the genus Leptothorax are distributed all over the world. Out of the 300 Leptothorax species nearly 40 occur in Europe, and some of them are endemic (AGOSTI & COLLINGWOOD 1987«, b). Until now 13 Leptothorax species were published from Hungary (MAYR 1856, MOCSÁRY 1918, SOMFAI 1959, GALLÉ 1979, 1981, 1986, GALLÉ & SZŐNYI 1988, GALLÉ et al 1998).