First record of Carebara oertzeni Forel, 1886 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Albania

Abstract

The first record of the rare ant Carebara oertzeni Forel, 1886 from Albania is reported. Two workers of C. oertzeni were discovered in the south-eastern part of the country, near the village of Benjë-Novoselë. So far, it is the northernmost known distribution of this very rarely collected species, the sole representative of its genus in Europe, whose previous records all come from Greece and Turkey. In addition, we also found a specimen determined as the Proceratium melinum Roger, 1860 worker ant in the same soil sample.