Crematogaster ionia

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Crematogaster ionia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Crematogaster
Species: C. ionia
Binomial name
Crematogaster ionia
Forel, 1911

Crematogaster ionia casent0179888 p 1 high.jpg

Crematogaster ionia casent0179888 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

There are only scarce data about the ecology of this species. We found them in mixed and pine forests, nesting under the stones or in humus, at the base of shrubs. Other authors (Forel, 1911; Müller, 1923; Zimmermann, 1934) found this species mostly in tree cavities. Workers are generalized omnivores. (Karaman 2010)

Borowiec (2014) notes that this species needs revision as recent collections suggest it is a complex of closely related taxa.

Identification

A member of the Crematogaster scutellaris group.

Karaman (2010) - TL= 4.2-5.0 mm. Body sculpture and hairiness are the same as in Crematogaster schmidti. Exception is the frontal triangle which is not completely smooth, but striated with 3-4 longitudinal striae. The head, thorax, appendages and petiole nodes dark reddish to brown, the head occiput and the first segment of the funiculus dark brown. Gaster dark-brown to black.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Karaman (2010) - Northern and eastern bank of Mediterranean Sea including islands in Aegean Sea. Altitude: 0-230 m a.s.l.

This is a common species, known from all Greek provinces, but our unpublished data on molecular variability of Greek populations showed that with great probability in this area occur three cryptic taxa. Their taxonomic status will be clarified after analysis or all studied samples (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 42.763146° to 31.766667°.

   
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Turkey (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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

Nomenclature

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

  • ionia. Crematogaster scutellaris var. ionia Forel, 1911d: 340 (w.q.) TURKEY, GREECE.
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
    • Type-localities: Turkey: Boudja, nr Smyrna (= Izmir), iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel), Coccarinali, nr Smyrna (= Izmir), iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel), Turkey: Izmid (Bithynia), iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel), Greece: Aivaly Peninsula, nr Mitylene, iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel), Greece: Kephirissa, nr Athens, iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel), Greece: Patras, iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel), Greece: Corfu I., iv.-v.1910 (A. Forel).
    • Type-depository: MHNG.
    • [Misspelled as jonia by Finzi, 1928c: 789.]
    • Combination in C. (Acrocoelia): Emery, 1922e: 144;
    • combination in C. (Crematogaster): Bolton, 1995b: 166.
    • As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1912e: 656; Emery, 1915h: 1; Wheeler, W.M. & Mann, 1916: 170; Emery, 1922e: 144; Soudek, 1925b: 16; Santschi, 1926f: 287; Menozzi, 1928a: 127; Menozzi, 1933b: 61 (in key); Santschi, 1934d: 276; Menozzi, 1936d: 283; Santschi, 1937e: 311 (in key); Finzi, 1939c: 155.
    • Subspecies of scutellaris: Forel, 1913d: 430; Finzi, 1928c: 789; Finzi, 1930d: 313.
    • Subspecies of schmidti: Hamann & Klemm, 1976: 672.
    • Status as species: Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 54; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 272 (in key); Kugler, J. 1988: 258; Collingwood, 1993b: 194; Bolton, 1995b: 155; Bračko, 2006: 135; Petrov, 2006: 94 (in key); Karaman, M.G. 2008: 20 (in key); Vonshak, et al. 2009: 42; Karaman, M.G. 2010: 428 (redescription); Karaman, M.G. 2011b: 23; Legakis, 2011: 13; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 488; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 18; Borowiec, L. 2014: 66; Tohmé, G. & Tohmé, 2014: 135; Lebas, et al. 2016: 274; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2018: 5; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 44; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2020: 8.
    • Distribution: Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Serbia, Syria, Turkey.

Taxonomic Notes

Eastern populations of this species differ slightly from western ones and with great probability this taxon is a complex of two cryptic taxa. Until the revision of this species group the name C. ionia has been used for material from Jordan (Borowiec & Salata, 2020).

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

Description

Worker

Karaman (2010) - TL 5.0mm, 4.9mm, 4.8mm; HW 1147.0, 1117.95, 989.75; HL 1063.75, 989.45, 948.12; CI 107.83, 112.98, 104.39; SL 823.02, 835.25, 758.6; SI 71.77, 74.71, 76.64; LM 1271.87, 1182.2, 1036; PS 231.25, 185.00, 171.13; A10 314.5, 333.0, 272.87; A9 171.13, 180.38, 161.87; A8 124.87, 134.12, 111.00; DBT 592.0, 518.0, 444.00; PW 411.63, 411.63, 333.00; PPW 337.62, 323.75, 291.37; PI 121.92, 127.14, 114.29; PPI 29.43, 28.96, 29.44; PnW 578.14, 568.87, 499.25.

References

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
  • Blaimer B. B. 2012. Acrobat ants go global – Origin, evolution and systematics of the genus Crematogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65: 421-436.
  • Bolu H., and I. Ozgen. 2018. Some observation about Formicidae (Hymenoptera) in almond agroecosystems in East-Southeast Anatolian region of Turkey. Mun. Ent. Zool. 13(2): 495-498.
  • 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. 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 Samos Island, Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-13.
  • 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.. "Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Croatia." Acta Entomologica Slovenica Vol 14 st (2006): 131-156.
  • Collingwood, C. A. 1993. A Comparitive Study of the Ant Fauna of Five Greek Islands. Biologia Gallo-hellenica. 20,1:191-197
  • Collingwood, C. A.. "A comparative study of the ant fauna of five Greek islands." Biologia Gallo-Hellenica 20 (1993): 191-197.
  • Forel A. 1911. Fourmis nouvelles ou intéressantes. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 47: 331-400.
  • Forel, A.. "Fourmis de la faune méditerranéenne récoltées par MM. U. et J. Sahlberg." Revue Suisse de Zoologie 21 (1913): 427-438.
  • Hamann H. H. F., and W. Klemm. 1976. Ergebnisse der von Dr. O. Paget und Dr. E. Kritscher auf Rhodos durchgeführten zoologischen Exkursionen. XVI. Formicidae. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien 80: 669-679.
  • Izhaki I., B. Idelovich, R. Laster, and Y. Ofer. 2009. The impact of macro- vs micro environmental factors on the structure of ant communities inhabiting East-Mediterranean Aleppo pine forests. Israel Journal of Entomology 39: 129-146.
  • Karaman M. G. 2010. New data of the genus Crematogaster Lund, 1831 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Crna Gora (Montenegro), Part I: Crematogaster scutellaris group of species. Türkiye Entomoloji Dergisi 34 :419-434.
  • 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.
  • Legakis Collection Database
  • Menozzi C. 1928. Note sulla mirmecofauna paleartica. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della Reale Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura. Portici. 21: 126-129.
  • Menozzi C. 1929. Ricerche faunistiche nelle isole italiane dell'Egeo. Imenotteri (formiche). Archivio Zoologico Italiano. 13: 145-146.
  • 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., L. Borowiec, and A.Trichas. 2018. Taxonomic Revision of the Cretan Fauna of the Genus Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with Notes on the Endemism of Ant Fauna of Crete. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 68(4): 769-808.
  • 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. A new species of the ant genus Lasius Fabricius, 1804 from Crete (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 789: 139–159.
  • 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.
  • Santschi F. 1926. Travaux scientifiques de l'Armée d'Orient (1916-1918). Fourmis. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 32: 286-293.
  • Santschi, F.. "Fourmis d'une croisière." Bulletin et Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Bruxelles) 74 (1934): 273-282.
  • Tohme G. 1996. Formicidae. Etude de la diversité biologique n° 4 . Ministère de l’Agriculture à Beyrouth (Eds.). P85-87.
  • Vonshak M., and A. Ionescu-Hirsch. 2009. A checklist of the ants of Israel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Israel Journal of Entomology 39: 33-55.
  • Wheeler W. M. and W. M. Mann. 1916. The ants of the Phillips Expedition to Palestine during 1914. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 60: 167-174.
  • Wheeler W. M., and W. M. Mann. 1916. The ants of the Phillips Expedition to Palestine during 1914. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 60: 167-174.
Retrieved from "https://antwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Crematogaster_ionia&oldid=696536"