PRELIMINARY RESEARCH ON SOME MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF EUROPEAN RED WOOD ANTS (FORMICA PRATENSIS RETZIUS, 1783) ALONG THE TURKEY-BULGARIA CROSS-BORDER AREA

Year 2021, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 187 - 195, 31.12.2021

Yılmaz Çamlıtepe , Volkan Aksoy , Albena Lapeva-gjonova , Kaan Yence Cansu Dumlu , Ilia Gjonov

https://doi.org/10.34186/klujes.1006418

Abstract

Formica pratensis (Hymenoptera: Formiciadae) is one of the members of the wood ants group and is represented in Europe with the hairy N morph common in the south and the less hairy P morph common in the north. The species is naturally distributed in European part of Turkey (Thrace Region) and in the neighboring parts of Bulgaria. Former studies of Bernhard Seifert showed that the N morph is the dominant morph in south Bulgaria, but the situation in Turkey is not known. In the present study, we sampled workers from some colonies of F. pratensis in Turkey and Bulgaria and obtained a pilosity data for each colony in the two countries. The comparison of our data with that of Seifert showed that the Bulgaria samples well fit with the pilosity data of P morph and Turkey samples were apparently less hairy but hairs are longer than all other populations. The results helped us to show that F. pratensis can have ecomorphological traits other than that fitting the definition of N and P morphs and that traits may differ from one to another population distributed even along in a small scale of area.

Keywords

Formica pratensis, pilosity, ecomorphology

Supporting Institution

EU

Project Number

INTERREG – IPA CBC BULGARIA – TURKEY PROGRAMME 2014-2020 CCI NO 2014TC16I5CB005

Thanks

This study was finacially supported by the project CB005.2.12. 012 “Joint initiatives for the conservation of zonal European red wood ants facing the danger of extinction", INTERREG – IPA CBC BULGARIA – TURKEY PROGRAMME 2014-2020 CCI NO 2014TC16I5CB005

TÜRKİYE-BULGARİSTAN SINIR BÖLGESİNDEKİ AVRUPA KIRMIZI ORMAN KARINCASININ (FORMICA PRATENSIS RETZIUS, 1783) MORFOMETRİK KARAKTERLERİ ÜZERİNE BİR ÖN ÇALIŞMA

Abstract

Formica pratensis (Hymenoptera: Formiciadae) orman karıncaları grubunun bir üyesidir ve Avrupa’da güneyde daha yaygın olan kıllı N morf ile kuzeyde daha yaygın olan daha az kıllı P morf ile temsil edilmektedir. Tür Türkiye’de Trakya Bölgesinde ve Bulgaristan’ın bu bölgeye komşu sınır alanlarında doğal olarak yayılış göstermektedir. Bernhard Seifert’in daha önceki çalışmaları güney Bulgaristan’da türün N morfunun baskın olduğunu göstermişken Türkiye’deki durumu bilinmemektedir. Bu çalışmada Türkiye ve Bulgaristan’dan bazı F. pratensis kolonilerinden işçi sınıfına giren karıncalar örneklenmiş ve her iki ülke örnekleri için bir kıllılık veri seti oluşturulmuştur. Elde edilen veri setinin Seifert’in bulguları ile karşılaştırılması Bulgaristan’daki örneklerin P morf ile uyuştuğunu, Türkiye örneklerinin ise belirgin şekilde daha az kıllı olduğunu ancak bu kılların diğer tüm populasyonlardakinden daha uzun olduğunu göstermiştir. Sonuçlar F. pratensis’in N ve P morf tanımlarına uyanlar dışında ekomorfolojik özelliklere sahip olabileceğini ve bu özelliklerin çok dar bir alanda dağılım gösteren populasyonlar arasında dahi farklılık gösterebileceğini göstermemize olanak tanımıştır.

Keywords

Formica pratensis, kıllılık, ekomorfoloji, Avrupa Kırmızı Orman Karıncası

Project Number

INTERREG – IPA CBC BULGARIA – TURKEY PROGRAMME 2014-2020 CCI NO 2014TC16I5CB005

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