A new species, Myrmica elbrusi sp. nov., is described from the North Caucasus (Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia). Its main diagnostic features are: the scape smoothly curved at the base, with no trace of lobe or carina; the frontal carinae very feebly curved, merging with the rugae that extend to the posterior margin, not curved outwards and not merged with the rugae surrounding antennal sockets; the frontal lobes not extended; the anterior clypeal margin distinctly prominent, narrowly rounded, not notched medially. Based on the above characters, M. elbrusi well differs from any other known Euro-Caucasian Myrmica species with smoothly curved scape [e.g. M. rubra (L.), M. ruginodis Nyl., M, gallienii Bondr., M. bergi Ruzs.], but fits well either to the rugosaor dshungarica species-groups (sensu Radchenko and Elmes 2010). Unfortunately, until males of M. elbrusi are found, this question cannot be resolved.
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1 December 2012
A New Peculiar Myrmica Species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the North Caucasus
Alexander Radchenko,
Zalim Yusupov
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Annales Zoologici
Vol. 62 • No. 4
December 2012
Vol. 62 • No. 4
December 2012
ants
Formicidae
Myrmica elbrusi
new species
North Caucasus
taxonomy
zoogeography