ACTA ZOOLOGICA BULGARICA Acta zool. bulg., 55 (1), 2003: 11-14

Contribution to the Knowledge of the Myrmecophilous Histeridae (Insecta: Coleoptera) in Bulgaria Albena Georgieva Lapeva-Gjonova*, Evgeni Ivanov Chehlarov** Abstract: The subfamily Hetaeriinae and the myrmecophilous species Hetaerius ferrugineus (Olivier, 1789) are reported for the first time for the Bulgarian fauna. H. ferrugineus is found in Formica fusca L. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) nests. The ant species Formica lugubris Zett. and Formica rufa L. are new hosts to Dendrophilus pygmaeus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Bulgaria. The species Acritus nigricornis (Hoffman, 1803) and Onthophilus affinis Redtenbacher, 1849, are also found in nests of ants. Key words: myrmecophilous, Histeridae, Bulgaria

Introduction The family Histeridae contains a lot of species at different degree of association to ants. Special investigations are not carried on myrmecophilous Histeridae in Bulgaria. Only the species Dendrophilous pygmaeus (L.) is reported by Zerche (1988). In this recent work data are given for 4 species from the family, which are found in ant nests.

Materials and Methods The materials are gathered from nests in the region of Southwest Bulgaria from the following ant species – Formica rufa L., F. lugubris Zett., F. exsecta Nyl., F. fusca L. and Myrmica sp.. The specimens are collected by hand and they are kept in the collections of the authors.

Results and Discussion The results are presented in the following order: systematic position of the established species, data of localities in Bulgaria from previous authors, new data of the localities and host species in which nests are found, ethological category of the species according to Franc (1992) and areas of distribution. Subfam. Dendrophilinae Dendrophilus pygmaeus (Linnaeus, 1758) Reported from Vitosha Mts., under Malak Resen (2000 m), 21.06.1988, in a nest of Formica exsecta Nyl. (Zerche, 1988). *Sofia University, Faculty of Biology, Department of Zoology and Anthropology, 8 Dragan Tsankov Blvd, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria **kv. Mladost 1, bl. 32, vh. 2, ap. 26, Sofia, Bulgaria

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New localities. Vitosha Mts.: Goli vrah (1900 m), 27.06.1998 - two specimens in a nest of Formica exsecta Nyl.; under Malak Resen (2150 m), 11.07.1998 - one specimen in a nest of Formica lugubris Zett.; above “Fizkulturnik” Hut (1870 m), 14.07.1998 one specimen in a nest of Formica exsecta Nyl.; Tsvetna poliana (1600 m), 06.10.1998 - two specimens in a nest of Formica rufa L. Category: synoecious myrmecophil (Franc, 1992). Distribution: Europe, Siberia, Khabarovskii Krai. Subfam. Hetaeriinae *Hetaerius ferrugineus (Olivier, 1789) Localities. Zemen Gorge (Southwest Bulgaria): 18.04.1998 - one specimen in a nest of Formica fusca L.; 09.05.1998 - two specimens in a nest of Formica fusca L.; 23.05.1998 - two specimens in a nest of Formica fusca L. Category - synoecio-symphillic myrmecophil (Franc, 1992). Distribution: Europe, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Turkey. Subfam. Abraeinae Acritus nigricornis (Hoffman,1803) Reported from the southern part of the Black Sea coast (Primorsko)(Mazur, 1972). New localities. Belasitsa Mts., above Belasitsa Hut, approximately 1000 m, 01.05.2001 - five specimens in a nest of Formica rufa L. Although A. nigricornis is not closely related to ants, Roubal (1949) has reported it from ant nests in the Czech Republic without information about the host species. It is interesting that Wasman found it in a nest of Reticulitermes lucifugus (Rossi) from Spain (Kryzhanovskij, Reikhard, 1976). Distribution: Europe, Caucasus, Asia Minor, Central Asia, North Africa, Canary Is., Azores, Cape Verde Archipelago, Senegal, Burma, Australia, Tasmania, USA: Indiana. Subfam. Onthophilinae Onthophilus affinis Redtenbacher, 1849 Reported from the Pirin Mts. (Labler, 1935). New localities. Zemen Gorge, Polska Skakavitsa vill., 19.04.1998 - one specimen in a nest of Myrmica sp.; near Zemen town, 23.05.1998 - one specimen in a nest of Formica fusca L. There are not any literature data about myrmecophily within the whole Onthophilus genus. Distribution: the southern part of Central Europe and the northen part of the Mediterranean subregion. During the investigation on myrmecophilous fauna in nests of ants we established four species from family Histeridae - Dendrophilus pygmaeus, Hetaerius ferrugineus, Acritus nigricornis and Onthophilus affinis. The species Hetaerius ferrugineus and the subfamily Hetaeriinae are new to the Bulgarian fauna. The species Dendrophilus pygmaeus and Hetaerius ferrugineus are representatives of the group of true guests which do not occur out of ant nests. The presence of Onthophilus affinis in nests of ants is reported for the first time. Zerche (1988) has reported Dendrophilus pygmaeus from nests of Formica exsecta

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Nyl. for Bulgaria (Vitosha Mts., 2000 m). We found the same species also in nests of Formica lugubris Zett. and Formica rufa L. from the Vitosha Mts. (1600-2150 m) between July and October.

Received: 05.06.2002 Accepted: 05.02.2003

References Franc, V. 1992. Myrmecophilous beetles of Slovakia with special reference to their endangment and perspectives for protection. - Acta Universitatis Carolinae Biologica, 36: 299-324. Kryzhanovskij, O., A. Reikhardt. 1976. The Beetles of the Superfamily Histeroidae. Fauna SSSR, T.5, Leningrad, Nauka, 434 p. Labler, K. 1935. Zweiter Beitrag zur Histeridenfauna von Bulgarien. - Izvestia na tzarskite prirodni instituti, Sofia, 8: 111-112. Mazur, S. 1972. Contribution to the knowledge of Sphaeritidae, Histeridae and Cleridae of Balkans. Polskie pismo ent., 42 (1): 145-150.

Ïðèíîñ êúì èçó÷àâàíåòî íà ìèðìåêîôèëíèòå Histeridae (Insecta: Coleoptera) â Áúëãàðèÿ À. Ëàïåâà Ãüîíîâà, Å. ×åõëàðîâ (Ðåçþìå) Çà ïúðâè ïúò ñå ñúîáùàâàò ïîäñåìåéñòâîòî Hetaeriinae è ìèðìåêîôèëíèÿò âèä Hetaerius ferrugineus (Olivier, 1789) çà ôàóíàòà íà Áúëãàðèÿ îò ãíåçäà íà Formica fusca L. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Óñòàíîâåíè ñà äâà íîâè âèäà ãîñòîïðèåìíèöè çà Dendrophilus pygmaeus (Linnaeus, 1758) â ñòðàíàòà - Formica lugubris Zett. è Formica rufa L. Âèäîâåòå Acritus nigricornis (Hoffman,1803) è Onthophilus affinis Redtenbacher, 1849, ñúùî ñà íàìåðåíè â ãíåçäà íà ìðàâêè.

Roubal, J. 1949. Catalogue of the myrmecophilous Coleoptera in north-east Bohemia, with bibliography and notes of Bohemians myrmecophilous Coleoptera. - Èas. Èsl. spol. entom., XLVI (3-4): 157-165. Zerche, L. 1988. Myrmecobionte Aleocharinae bei Formica exsecta (Nylander) aus Bulgarien (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae). - Entomologische Nachrichten und Berichte, 32: 271-272.

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