Chesnokova S.V., Omelchenko L.V., Novgorodova Т.А. 2025. Landscape-biotopic distribution of Formica uralensis Ruzsky, 1895 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Russian part of Altai // Euroasian Entomological Journal. Vol.24. No.1: 38–52 [in English].
Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Frunze Str. 11, Novosibirsk 630091 Russia. E-mail: tchsvet@mail.ru
doi 10.15298/euroasentj.24.01.12
ABSTRACT. The territory of the Altai mountain region, characterised by high landscape diversity, is a convenient natural model for investigating ecological preferences and specificity of biotopic distribution of individual ant species. The results are presented of a study of the landscape-biotopic distribution of the transpalaearctic ant Formica uralensis Ruzsky, 1895, known for highly specific ecological preferences in different parts of its range. The environmental factors determining the nature and specificity of its biotopic distribution were identified. A generalised analysis of our own and literature data on the abundance of F. uralensis in the Russian Altai revealed four groups of habitats, different in the degree of favourable environmental conditions for this species: optimal, suboptimal, pessimal and extreme. It was found that the variability in the abundance of F. uralensis across habitats is most associated with the type (subtype) of the vegetation cover, differences in heat availability and moisture supply of the territory, and landscape differentiation at the type and subtype levels. In the studied part of Altai, as well as throughout its range, F. uralensis inhabits a wide range of habitats including bogs, where its abundance is low. This confirms the validity of the hypothesis that F. uralensis has specific adaptations to overwatered habitats (e.g. wetland). However, the results obtained do not exclude the possibility of the existence of two cryptic species with specific ecological preferences, but this issue requires a separate detailed study using molecular genetic methods.
KEY WORDS: Ants, distribution, range, ecological preferences, environmental factors, Altai mountain region.