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Aphaenogaster tristis
| Aphaenogaster tristis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Aphaenogaster |
| Species group: | subterranea |
| Species: | A. tristis |
| Binomial name | |
| Aphaenogaster tristis Borowiec, Menchetti, Salata, Vila & Zięcina, 2024 | |
Aphaenogaster tristis, endemic to Greece, is mostly associated with coniferous forests (especially fir forests), and only once it was observed in a stream valley with plane trees and in mixed forest. Another single record comes from rocky alpine pastures close to fir forest. Most likely it is an alpine species, as most of its records are from shadow, mountain habitats from 500 to 1950 m a.s.l. Its nests were located under stones not necessarily near watercourses, often in stony parts of fir forests far from the water. Exceptionally, one nest from Corfu (Ionian Islands) was located under a stone in a shadow deciduous forest at an altitude of 179 m, and the population from Naxos, Cyclades inhabits humid and dark deciduous forest located in a small valley at an altitude 462–476 m. Also, one worker was observed on the rock wall in the gorge across the deciduous forest.
Photo Gallery
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Identification
Aphaenogaster tristis and Aphaenogaster maculifrons form a complex of species characterized by head on the whole surface with distinct microsculpture, lacking smooth and shiny areas in the vertex and occipitum.
Aphaenogaster tristis is the most similar to A. maculifrons but differs in distinctly rugose frons with additional interrupted and dense costulae, and vertex and sides posterolateral from eyes equally sculptured and only occasionally with weaker, but still distinct, sculpture. Both species are separated geographically, A. tristis is known from western, central, and southern Greece, while A. maculifrons is known only from western Türkiye.
The insular populations of A. tristis sometimes differ from the mainland ones, but we couldn’t find any strong evidence supporting their distinctness. For example, the population from Naxos (Cyclades) has overall shorter propodeal spines, the population from Corfu (Ionian Island) has smaller body size, more subdecumbent to suberected pubescence of antennal scapus, and dorsum of pronotum partly with fain longitudinal rugae, some populations from Cephalonia (Ionian Islands) exhibit slightly weaker head sculpture but this character is variable within the colony and might be caused by some external factors. The observed differences also might be a manifestation of the ongoing divergence of this species.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Endemic to Greece (Cyclades, Ionian Islands, Peloponnese, Sterea Ellas (Euboea Island) and Thessaly.
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 40° to 36.9°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: Ziecina et al., 2024
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Greece (type locality).
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. |
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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. |
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Biology
Castes
Phylogeny
| Aphaenogaster subterranea species group |
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Based on Zięcina et al. (2024).
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- tristis. Aphaenogaster tristis Borowiec et al., 2024: 260, figs. 40-49 (w.) GREECE.
Type Material
- Holotype (w.): Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC-GR02140 || GREECE, Pel. Lakonia | 3.2 km NW Polidroso, 1000 m | 37.19874 N / 22.57603 E | 18 VI 2016, L. Borowiec (Museum of Natural History).
- Paratypes (16w.): the same data as the holotype (Museum of Natural History, Natural History Museum of Crete); 16w.: Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC-GR02158 || GREECE, Pel. Lakonia | 3.2 km NE Vemvakou, 1370 m | 37.25344 N / 22.59165 E | 18 VI 2016, L. Borowiec (Museum of Natural History, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève).