Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Plant Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran
2
Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey
10.22108/tbj.2025.143643.1291
Abstract
Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) have a tremendous impact on food chains and natural ecosystems, and a significant number of species are in contact with humans due to their presence in anthropogenic structures. During a survey, ants in urban and rural inside and outside spaces of human-made structures of Sarakhs County, Razavi Khorasan province located in the northeast of Iran were collected and identified. Totally, 3 subfamilies, 12 genera and 20 species were collected and identified. Among the identified ants, six species including Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798), Lepisiota bipartita (Smith, 1861), Messor denticulatus Santschi, 1927, M. reticuliventris Karavaiev, 1911, Pheidole providens (Sykes, 1835) and Trichomyrmex destructor (Jerdon, 1851) directly collected from different parts of residential houses such as kitchens, bedrooms, dining rooms and living rooms. The fourteen species T. erraticum, Camponotus cognatocompressus Forel, 1904, C. xerxes Forel, 1904, Cataglyphis setipes (Forel, 1894), Formica clara Forel, 1886, Aphaenogaster muschtaidica Emery, 1908, M. denticulatus, M. intermedius Santschi, 1927, M. reticuliventris, Myrmica specioides Bondroit, 1918, P. cicatricosa Stitz, 1917, P. providens, Tetramorium nursei Bingham, 1903, and T. destructor collected from outdoor spaces of residential houses and internal spaces of non-residential human-made buildings such as courtyards, parking lots, warehouses, stairs, gardens, walls, terraces, etc. M. reticuliventris is reported for the first time from Iran. In addition, the species A. muschtaidica which is considered as a Caucasian species is reported far from this region from northeastern Iran.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)