Aphaenogaster sporadis

Aphaenogaster sporadis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Aphaenogaster
Species group:	testaceopilosa
Species:	A. sporadis
Binomial name
Aphaenogaster sporadis Santschi, 1933 Specimen Labels

Menozzi (1936) called this species very common on Rhodes up to an altitude of 800 m (Boer, 2013).

Identification

A member of the A. testaceopilosa group. Boer (2013) - The worker of A. sporadis resemble Aphaenogaster balcanica. Especially freshly collected A. sporadis are remarkably matt. Head is smaller than in related species. The petioles of the gynes are wider than in A. balcanica. Aphaenogaster balcanica males are on the lateral sides partly glossy, while A. sporadis is matt.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Aphaenogaster European testaceopilosa-group workers
• Key to Aphaenogaster European testaceopilosa-group queens
• Key to Aphaenogaster European testaceopilosa-group males

• Key to European Aphaenogaster workers

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 37.79198° to 36.71857°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Cyprus, Greece (type locality), 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.

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.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Syntype of Aphaenogaster simonellii sporadis. Male (alate). Specimen code casent0913128. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Male (alate). Specimen code casent0914226. Photographer Michele Esposito, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Worker. Specimen code casent0914227. Photographer Michele Esposito, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Worker. Specimen code casent0914421. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

• sporadis. Aphaenogaster simonellii var. sporadis Santschi, 1933c: 401, figs. 14, 37 (w.m.) GREECE (Ikaria).
  • Type-material: 1 syntype worker, 2 syntype males.
  • Type-locality: Greece: S Sporades, Nikaria (= Ikaria I.) (E. von Oertzen) (received from Stitz).
  • Type-depositories: MNLB, NHMB.
  • Boer, 2013: 88 (q.).
  • Subspecies of simonellii: Bolton, 1995b: 73; Legakis, 2011: 8.
  • Status as species: Boer, 2013: 87 (redescription); Borowiec, L. 2014: 19; Lebas, et al. 2016: 250; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2018: 4.
  • Distribution: Greece, Turkey.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Boer (2013):

Worker

Lateral sides of mesosoma with longitudinal rugulae. Pronotal dorsum scabriculous or only punctate. Dorsal side of propodeum mainly without rugulae. Head in full-face view with distinct longitudinal rugulae with cross-connections. Head in full-face view, mesosoma, terminal side of propodeum, beneath the propodeal spines and petioles punctate. Dorsal side of postpetiole with longitudinal costulae which continue on first gastral tergite in microstriae. Head in full-face view, mesosoma and petioles matt. Dorsal side of gaster matt satin to satin. Lateral sides of gaster wax glossy to slightly shiny. Antennal club 4-segmented. Lateral shape of petiole less variable than in other species: shape of descending half relatively long and narrow. Setosity on fore coxa and pronotum longer than on other parts.

Measurements (n = 36). CI 66–76 (72); CL 1.32–1.59 (1.50) mm; CW 0.86–1.16 (1.05) mm; PHI 30–36 (32); PI 71–86 (78); PPPI 46–59 (52); PSI 113–200 (161); PSLWI 100–146 (125); PWI 20–25 (22); RPH 125–168 (144); RPSI 12–73 (46); SI 140–170 (155); SI/CI 195–247 (216); SL 1.41–1.80 (1.67) mm; SPD 1–2 (1.2); SPL 1–5 (4.2).

Queen

Head in full-face view with longitudinal rugulae with cross connections, occiput ruguloreticulated. Anterior side of pronotum with transverse rugulae. Terminal side of propodeum, beneath the propodeal spines transversely costulate. Lateral sides mesonotum with longitudinal rugulae. Pronotum and dorsal sides of petioles scabriculous. Longitudinal rugulose on clypeus, head (exclusive occiput), mesoscutum, scutellum, propodeum and anterior side of postpetiole. Transversely rugulose on terminal side of postpetiole. Punctation present between rugulae on head, and everywhere on lateral and dorsal sides of mesosoma and petioles. Anterior side of first gastral tergite with longitudinal microstriae, except fifteen transverse microstriae near base of first gastral tergite. Anterior side of petiole smooth. Mesosoma matt with some shine from the punctation. Gaster dorsally satin. Antennal club 4-segmented. Scutellum rises distinctly above mesoscutum and bends entirely over metanotum.

Measurements (n = 1). CI 82; CL 1.55 mm; CW 1.29 mm; OCI 31; PHI 49; PI 79; PPPI 89; PSI 193; PSLWI 73; PWI 39; RPH 127; RPSI 35; SI 127; SI/CI 155; SL 1.61 mm; SPD 1.5; SPL 6.

Male

Dorsal side of mesonotum striate. Lateral sides of propodeum with or without rugulae. Punctation on head and mesosoma. Anterior side of propodeal dorsum could be partly smooth. Clypeus weakly longitudinally rugulose. Gaster dorsally microreticulated, with hardly visible microstriation. Mandibles smooth, less shiny than in other species, more dull. Head, mesoscutum and (largely on) propodeum matt, dorsal side of gaster at least near base satin, other parts wax glossy. Antennal club 5-segmented. Pubescence on scape and hind tibia appressed to suberect, shorter than their diameter. Scutellum erected above the mesoscutum, partly bent over the metanotum. Head without frontal midline. Except the apical tooth and tooth 2, the masticatory margin of the mandibles is set with denticles. A distinct groove between the two spines at the terminal side of the propodeum. Anterior clypeal margin slightly convex, in middle hardly concave. A distinct transverse groove in middle of propodeal dorsum, posterior part of the propodeum being raised. Propodeum dentate or with coarse spines.

Measurements (n = 4). CI 87–89 (88); CL 0.89–0.90 (0.90) mm; CW 0.79–0.80 (0.80) mm; EYI 37–44 (41); OCI 45–49; SL/CL 44–47; SL 0.42–0.44 (0.43) mm.

Type Material

Syntypes: Greece, Nikaria: 1 male (Von Oetz, Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel; labelled: A. campana v. sporadis) and 1 worker (without head) and 1 male (same label, MNLB).

References

• Boer, P. 2013. Revision of the European ants of the Aphaenogaster testaceopilosa-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 156, 57–93.
• 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., Salata, S. 2022. A monographic review of ants of Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Vol. 1. Introduction and review of all subfamilies except the subfamily Myrmicinae. Part 1: text. Natural History Monographs of the Upper Silesian Museum 1: 1-297.
• Borowiec, L., Wieczorek, K., Salata, S. 2021. Review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Dodecanese Archipelago, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 30: 1-33 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.5571270).
• Demetriou, J., Georgiadis, C., Ralli, V., Salata, S., Borowiec, L. 2024. Setting the record straight: a re-examination of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Cyprus deposited at the Museum of Zoology of Athens. Zootaxa 55231, 49–69 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5523.1.3).
• Kiran, K., Karaman, C. 2020. Additions to the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zoosystema 42(18), 285-329 (doi:10.5252/zoosystema2020v42a18).
• Santschi, F. 1933d. Étude sur le sous-genre Aphaenogaster Mayr. Rev. Suisse Zool. 40: 389-408 (page 401, figs. 14, 37 worker, male described)
• Schifani, E., Alicata, A., Menchetti, M., Borowiec, L., Fisher, B.L., Karaman, C., Kiran, K., Oueslati, W., Salata, S., Blatrix, R. 2022. Revisiting the morphological species groups of West-Palearctic Aphaenogaster ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) under a phylogenetic perspective: toward an evolutionary classification. Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 80, 627–648 (doi:10.3897/asp.80.e84428).

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
• Boer P. 2013. Revision of the European ants of the Aphaenogaster testaceopilosa-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 156: 57-93.
• 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. 2018. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Samos Island, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-13.
• 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.
• Santschi, F. "Étude sur le sous-genre Aphaenogaster Mayr." Revue Suisse de Zoologie 40 (1933): 389-408.