Abstract
UDK: 595.796:591.134(497.6)
 Faunistic analysis of the ants in the Mediterranean part of Bosnia and Herzegovina has identified three species of the genus Messor Forel, 1890: M. capitatus (Latreille, 1798), M. structor (Latreille, 1798) and M. wasmanni Krausse, 1910. Morphometric analysis of the variability of the worker caste belonging to species of the genus Messor Forel, 1890 in the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina was carried out based on 15 morphometric characters. The analysis of characters provided the description of the local population species: Messor capitatus (Latreille, 1798), M. wasmanni Krausse, 1910 and M. structor (Latreille, 1798). The multivariate method, discriminant function analysis established that postpetiole width provides the greatest contribution to interspecies variation. Classification matrices indicate that percentage of correctly classified individuals between three analysed species is 97,3%.
Highlights
Faunistic analysis of the ants in the Mediterranean part of Bosnia and Herzegovina has identified three species of the genus Messor Forel, 1890: M. capitatus (Latreille, 1798), M. structor (Latreille, 1798) and M. wasmanni Krausse, 1910
On the basis of individual findings we can conclude that species Messor structor (Latreille, 1798) has the widest distribution and appears intermittently in both the Mediterranean area and the xerothermofilic habitats of the Dinaric and Pannonical area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, such a serpentine complexes in the north of the country and thermophilic meadow communities in the central Dinaric area
Species Messor structor (Latreille, 1798) is distributed in the wider area so that individuals of this species were collected at sites in the central and northern parts of Bosnia such as: Zupca, Breza Municipality, and Oskova Banovici Municipality, which indicates wider distribution of this species in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Adi Vesnic’s myrmecological collection)
Summary
During the faunistic research in the wider area of Popovo Polje involving species Messor capitatus (Latreille, 1798), 513 individuals were collected at 12 sites. At Popovo Polje, 784 individuals of the worker caste of the species Messor wasmanni Krausse, 1910 were collected at 11 sites. 367 individuals of the worker caste of the species Messor structor (Latreille, 1798) were collected at six sites; these are representing the first record of the species in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In case of the species Messor capitatus (Latreille, 1798), the highest degree of variation was found regarding eye width (EW), and the lowest regarding maximum distance between outer margins of spines (SPW) (Table 1.). In case of the species Messor wasmanni Krausse, 1910, the highest degree of variation was found regarding anterior distance of frontal carinae (FL), and the lowest coefficient of variation value found regarding eye width (EW). (PSL), while the lowest coefficient of variation value was found regarding length of hind femora (LHF) (Table 1.).
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