The Ants Database of the Khibiny Polar Mountains

Based on the results of entomological studies in thirteen natural and anthropogenic disturbed ecosystems of the Khibiny polar mountains in 2014-2018, a Database on ants was created. The Database contains information on 18 collected ant species and three non-captured species known in Khibiny from reports of the first Scientific Mountain Base in the 1930s. A total of 21 species make up 82% of known myrmecofauna of the Kola Subarctic. The collected ants belong to 4 genera and 2 subfamilies of the family Formicidae, including 13 species of the subfamily Formicinae and 5 species of the subfamily Myrmicinae. Seven Formica species we are reporting in Khibiny for the first time (F.aquilonia, F. forsslundi, F. polyctena, F. rufibarbis, F. sanguinea, F. suecica and F. truncorum). Among them, the boreo-alpine ant F. suecica is rare in Fennoscandia and is a red-listed species in Finland. Three wood ants (F. aquilonia, F. lugubris and F. polyctena) are included in European Red List (1992) in the vulnerable category and in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (1996) as near-threatened species.