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Key to Cataglyphis of Greece
This key to workers is from Borowiec and Salata 2022. Each terminal couplet is followed by comparative remarks that are specific to the Greek ant fauna.
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- Greece species list
- Ants of Greece project page
- Ants of Crete project page
1
- Petiole squamiform. Body almost uniformly colored, dark brown to black, sometimes head and partly mesosoma paler coloured than gaster . . . . . #3
- Petiole in form of globular or cubical node. Body distinctly bicolored, head and mesosoma red to brick-red, gaster brown to black, occasionally in melanistic forms body mostly brown to black 2 . . . . . #2
2
return to couplet #1
- Petiole in form of globular node. Large species, minor workers with HL above 1.3 mm, major workers with HL above 2.5 mm . . . . . Cataglyphis nodus
Cataglyphis nodus and C. viaticoides are the only Greek species with distinctly bicolored body, yellowish red to red head and mesosoma and brown to black gaster. Cataglyphis viaticoides differs in petiole in form of cubical node and distinctly smaller size with HL in minor workers < 1.3 mm, and in major workers with HL < 1.8 mm while C. nodus has petiole in form of globular node and body is large with HL in minor workers > 1.3 mm, and in major workers with HL > 2.5 mm. Melanistic forms of C. nodus differs from species of the C. hellenica complex in globular petiolar node while all dark colored Greek species have squamiform petiole.
- Petiole in form of cubical node. Small species, minor workers with HL below 1.3 mm, major workers with HL below 1.8 mm . . . . . Cataglyphis viaticoides
Cataglyphis viaticoides and C. nodus are the only Greek species with distinctly bicolored body, yellowish red to red head and mesosoma and brown to black gaster. Cataglyphis nodus differs in petiole in form of globular node and large body with HL in minor workers > 1.3 mm, and in major workers with HL > 2.5 mm while C. viaticoides has petiole in form of cubical node and distinctly smaller size with HL in minor workers < 1.3 mm, and in major workers with HL < 1.8 mm.
3
return to couplet #1
- At least third gastral tergite, promesonotum, occipital part of head and often antennal scapus with few short to long erected setae. Widespread in Greece and in mountains of Crete . . . . . #4
- First three gastral tergites, occipital part of head and antennal scapus lacking long erected setae, sometimes major workers with a pair of short setae in occipital part of head. Only Crete . . . . . Cataglyphis cretica
4
return to couplet #3
- Propodeum of major workers with numerous (usually 5-8) erected setae. Petiolar scale in gyne thin with deeply emarginate upper margin. Male unknown. Mountains of Crete only . . . . . Cataglyphis minos
- Propodeum of major workers lacking erected setae or at most with 1-6 erected setae. Petiolar scale in gyne thick with truncate upper margin. Continental Greece, Aegean Islands and Cyclades, absent in Crete . . . . . Cataglyphis hellenica