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Aphaenogaster epirotes

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Aphaenogaster epirotes
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Aphaenogaster
Species group: subterranea
Species: A. epirotes
Binomial name
Aphaenogaster epirotes
(Emery, 1895)

Specimen Labels

Aphaenogaster epirotes prefers shadow habitats. Most records are from deciduous forests, especially from shaded valleys close to streams or from oak forests. Only a few records are from pine forests. Noted also from old olive plantations, mountain pastures, alpine zones with limestone rocks, parks with deciduous trees, shrubs along roadsides, and burned forests, occasionally in shrubs inside cypress forest and xerothermophile oak forest, xerothermous karst grasslands. Workers are active outside their nests, mainly on cloudy days and in the evenings, probably also at night. The species was observed on large stones, directly on the soil, or penetrating large herbs in shady forests. Nests under stones or simply in the soil, colonies are small to moderate, and the greatest number of workers observed in the colonies did not exceed 60 individuals. Lowland and highland species, most nests were located in areas between 4 to 500 m, the highest locality came from a deciduous forest at an altitude 1054 m a.s.l. (Zięcina et al., 2024).

Identification

Zięcina et al. (2024) - Aphaenogaster epirotes and Aphaenogaster subcostata are the only species in the subterranea group with whole head with thick and sparse rugocostae. Aphaenogaster subcostata differs in first segment of funiculus elongate, 3.5–3.6 × as long as wide and strongly flattened laterally, and in yellowish to bright brown body with mesosoma always paler coloured than head. Both species are separated geographically, A. epirotes is common in the Balkans, Ionian Islands, Cyclades and northern Aegean Islands south to Lesbos, while A. subcostata is rare species known only from Dodecanese, southern Aegean Islands north to Samos and from western Türkiye.

  • Zięcina et al. (2024), Figure 51. Spatial genetic structure of A. epirotes (a), A. ichnusa (d), A. subterranea (g) and A. tristis (j) and their respective haplotype networks (b,e,h,k) based on COI sequences. Colours match the bidimensional colour space of the PCoA projection (c,f,i,l). Insets show the max intraspecific p-dist.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

This is a common species, recorded from the Aegean Islands, the Ionian Islands, Epirus, Macedonia, the Peloponnese, Sterea Ellas, Thessaly and Thrace (Borowiec et al., 2022).

All confirmed records indicate that the species has a distribution range restricted to the Balkan Peninsula and the Aegean region. Record from Israel (Voshnak & Ionescu-Hirsch 2009) needs verification (Zięcina et al., 2024).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 45.773056° to 37°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Albania (type locality), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
pChart

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
pChart

Biology

Castes

  • Zięcina et al. (2024), Figures 5–7. Aphaenogaster epirotes (Emery), worker of northern populations: (5) dorsal, (6) lateral, (7) basal segments of antennal funicle (scale bar = 1 mm, photographed by L. Borowiec).
  • Zięcina et al. (2024), Figures 8, 9. Aphaenogaster epirotes (Emery), worker of northern populations: (8) head and antennae, (9) head sculpture (scale bar = 1 mm, photographed by L. Borowiec).
  • Zięcina et al. (2024), Figures 10, 11. Aphaenogaster epirotes (Emery), worker of southern populations: (10) dorsal, (11) lateral (scale bar = 1 mm, photographed by L. Borowiec).
  • Zięcina et al. (2024), Figures 12, 13. Aphaenogaster epirotes (Emery), worker of southern populations: (12) head and antennae, (13) head sculpture (scale bar = 1 mm, photographed by L. Borowiec).

Phylogeny

Aphaenogaster subterranea species group

Aphaenogaster holtzi

Aphaenogaster epirotes

Aphaenogaster subcostata

Aphaenogaster ichnusa

Aphaenogaster maculifrons

Aphaenogaster subterranea

Aphaenogaster asterioni

Aphaenogaster tristis

Based on Zięcina et al. (2024).

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • epirotes. Stenamma (Aphaenogaster) epirotes Emery, 1895b: 72 (w.) ALBANIA.
    • Type-material: 2 syntype workers.
    • Type-locality: 1 worker Albania: (no further data) (Flach), 1 worker Albania: (no further data) (E. von Oertzen).
    • Type-depository: MSNG.
    • Müller, 1923b: 50 (q.m.).
    • Combination in Aphaenogaster: Emery, 1908c: 336;
    • combination in Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma): Emery, 1921f: 58.
    • Subspecies of obsidiana: Emery, 1908c: 336; Forel, 1913d: 428; Müller, 1921: 49; Emery, 1921f: 58; Müller, 1923a: 67 (in key); Müller, 1923b: 50; Soudek, 1925b: 15; Finzi, 1930a: 155; Finzi, 1930d: 312; Cori & Finzi, 1931: 237; Zimmermann, 1935: 10; Finzi, 1939c: 153; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 50.
    • Status as species: Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 53; Kugler, J. 1988: 257; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 108; Bolton, 1995b: 69; Poldi, et al. 1995: 3; Bračko, 2006: 134; Bračko, 2007: 17; Vonshak, et al. 2009: 41; Lapeva-Gjonova, et al. 2010: 13; Karaman, M.G. 2011b: 16; Legakis, 2011: 6; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 463; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 16; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2013: 337; Borowiec, L. 2014: 11; Bračko, et al. 2014: 13; Lebas, et al. 2016: 258; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 42.
    • Distribution: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey.

Description

References

  • Agosti, D.; Collingwood, C. A. 1987a. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 60: 51-62 (page 53, revived status as species)
  • Atanassov, N.; Dlussky, G. M. 1992. Fauna of Bulgaria. Hymenoptera, Formicidae. Fauna Bûlg. 22: 1-310 (page 108, see also)
  • Baroni Urbani, C. 1971c. Catalogo delle specie di Formicidae d'Italia (Studi sulla mirmecofauna d'Italia X). Memorie della Societa Entomologica Italiana 50: 5-287 (page 50, variety/subspecies of obsidiana)
  • Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 69, catalogue)
  • Borowiec, L. & Salata, S. 2013. Ants of Greece – additions and corrections (Hymenoptera Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 24, 335-401.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Agosti, D. and C.A. Collingwood. 1987. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 60: 51-62
  • Andoni V. 1977. Kontribut mbi Himenopteret e familjes Formicidae te vendit tone. Buletini I Shkencave te Natyres 31(2): 93-101.
  • Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2012. Ants of Greece - Checklist, comments and new faunistic data (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus 23(4): 461-563.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2013. Ants of Greece – additions and corrections (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 24(3-4): 335-401.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2018. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Euboea Island, Central Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27(5): 1-15.
  • Bracko G., K. Kiran, C. Karaman, S. Salata, and L. Borowiec. 2016. Survey of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Greek Thrace. Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7945. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.4.e7945
  • Bracko G., and L. Cesnik. 2016. Fist records of six ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for Slovenia. Natura Sloveniae 18(2): 39-46.
  • Bracko, G. 2006. Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) of Croatia. Acta Entomologica Slovenica 14(2): 131-156.
  • Bracko, G. "New species for the ant fauna of Slovenia (Hymenoptera:Formicidae)." Natura Sloneniae 5 (1) (2003): 17-25.
  • Bracko, G. "Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Croatia." Acta Entomologica Slovenica Vol 14 st (2006): 131-156.
  • Czechowski W., A. Radchenko, W. Czechowska and K. Vepsäläinen. 2012. The ants of Poland with reference to the myrmecofauna of Europe. Fauna Poloniae 4. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 1-496 pp
  • Emery, C. "Beiträge zur Kenntniss der palaearktischen Ameisen." Öfversigt af Finska Vetenskaps-Societetens Förhandlingar (Helsinki) 20 (1898): 124-151.
  • Forel, A. "Fourmis de la faune méditerranéenne récoltées par MM. U. et J. Sahlberg." Revue Suisse de Zoologie 21 (1913): 427-438.
  • Karaman M. G. 2011. A catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Montenegro. Podgorica: Catalogues 3, Volume 2, Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, 140 pp.
  • Kiran K., and C. Karaman. 2012. First annotated checklist of the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3548: 1-38.
  • Kugler J. 1988. The zoogeography of Israel. 9. The zoogeography of social insects of Israel and Sinai. Monographiae biologicae 62: 251-275.
  • Lapeva-Gjonova, L., V. Antonova, A. G. Radchenko, and M. Atanasova. "Catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Bulgaria." ZooKeys 62 (2010): 1-124.
  • Legakis Collection Database
  • Müller G. 1921. Due nuove formiche della regione Adriatica. Boll. Soc. Adriat. Sci. Nat. Trieste 27(2): 46-49.
  • Müller, G. "Le formiche della Venezia Guilia e della Dalmazia." Bollettino della Società Adriatica di Scienze Naturali in Trieste 28 (1923): 11-180.
  • Petrov I. Z., and C. A. Collingwood. 1992. Survey of the myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Yugoslavia. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 44: 79-91.
  • Salata S., and L Borowiec. 2017. Species of Tetramorium semilaeve complex from Balkans and western Turkey, with description of two new species of (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 62:279–313.
  • Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2018. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.
  • Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131.
  • Soudek, S. "Dalmatsti mravenci." Casopis Csl. Spolecnosti Entomologické 20 (1-2) (1925): 12-17.
  • Vesnic A., and R. Skrijelj. 2013. Biodiversity, distribution and variability in species of the genus Aphaenogaster Mayr, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Natura Montenegrina 12(1): 97-107.
  • Vonshak M., and A. Ionescu-Hirsch. 2009. A checklist of the ants of Israel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Israel Journal of Entomology 39: 33-55.
  • Zimmermann, S. "Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Ameisenfauna Süddalmatiens." Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanisch Gesellschaft in Wien 84 (1935): 1-65.
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