HOST ANT USE OF MACULINEA TELEIUS IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN (LEPIDOPTERA: LYCAENIDAE)

Host ant use of Maculinea teleius was investigated in 17 Hungarian and three Transylvanian (Romania) sites by opening Myrmica ant nests. A total of 856 nests of nine Myrmica species (M. gallienii, M. rubra, M. ruginodis, M. sabuleti, M. salina, M. scabrinodis, M. schencki, M. specioides and M. vandeli) were found and nests of six species (M. gallienii, M. rubra, M. sa-lina, M. scabrinodis, M. specioides and M. vandeli) contained 114 M. teleius specimens in to-tal. M. rubra and M. scabrinodis were the most frequently used host ants. M. rubra appeared to be more suitable in the western while M. scabrinodis proved to be more important in the east-ern sites. M. gallienii and M. salina were only locally important hosts on a few sites. M. specioides and M. vandeli were parasitized only once. Five Myrmica nests also contained lar-vae of other Maculinea species. These results show a less restricted host ant use of M. teleius in the central part of the Carpathian Basin than records from France. Our results correspond with the host ant use data recorded from Poland