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Temnothorax apolloni
| Temnothorax apolloni | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Crematogastrini |
| Genus: | Temnothorax |
| Species group: | angustulus |
| Species: | T. apolloni |
| Binomial name | |
| Temnothorax apolloni Satala, Demetriou, Georgiadis & Borowiec, 2024 | |
Thermophilous species. Most specimens were shaken off into the entomological umbrella from bushes located on the sunny outskirts of pine forests, sunny meadows, along roadsides, on sunny hills, or the outskirts of salt lakes. The preferred shrub was Pistacia; a few specimens have been found inside old galls on Pistacia branches. Nests could not be found, probably as in the Greek representatives of the Temnothorax angustulus group, they can nest inside the dry stems and branches of shrubs and large herbs.
Photo Gallery
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Identification
Temnothorax apolloni and Temnothorax kykkos are the only Cypriot members of the T. angustulus group characterized by partly or predominantly brown color, shallowly impressed metanotal groove, petiole with straight anterior face and strong sculpture of mesosoma with reticulate and longitudinal rugae. Both species are strongly thermophilous, nesting in the hollow stems, under the bark, or sometimes in dried fruit that has fallen to the ground. Temnothorax apolloni differs from T. kykkos by its distinctly bicolored body with head and gaster predominantly brown and mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole yellowish-brown. Temnothorax apolloni has slightly longer petiole with mean PI 1.415 with a petiolar node in profile obtusely angulate. Body sculpture in T. apolloni is stronger and sharper than in T. kykkos, with reticulate and longitudinal rugae on almost the whole head surface except smooth, narrow median area. Geographically closest member of the T. angustulus group outside of Cyprus, Temnothorax dessyi (known from Greece and Western Türkiye) differs in the almost uniformly brown body, shorter petiole with triangular and angulate node, and extremely short erect setae on anterior half of the first gastral tergite with mean length 0.035 (in T. apolloni 0.045). The species of the T. angustulus group distributed in the western part of the Mediterranean Basin and recently reviewed by Galkowski & Cagniant (2017) differ in shorter, triangular, and sharply angulate petiolar node. Temnothorax apolloni has the least angulate petiolar node in the whole T. angustulus group.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
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Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 34.9° to 34.6°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: Salata et al., 2024
Distribution based on type material
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
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- apolloni. Temnothorax apolloni Satala et al., 2024: 15, figs. 8-12, 61 (w.) CYPRUS.
Type Material
- Holotype: worker (pin) “CYPRUS, Limassol, 129 m | Apollo Temple a. Kourion | 34.67399 / 32.86412 | 20 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW).
- Paratypes (109 workers pin): 13w, the same data as for holotype; 9w “CYPRUS, Limassol Prov. | Apollo Temple a. Kourion | 34.67404 / 32.8638, 131 m | 20 IV 2022, S. Salata” (MNHW); 9w “CYPRUS, Paphos, Diarizos | riv., Extr. View Café, 251 | m 34.78952 / 32.6939 | 19 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 6w “CYPRUS, Akrotiri UK SBA, 0 m | Limassol Salt Lake loc. 2 | 34.60987 / 32.94685 | 20 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 4w “CYPRUS, Paphos, 31 m | Ranti Forest | 34.67337 / 32.60695 | 20 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 1w “CYPRUS, Nicosia, 680 m | Kapedes | 34.9669 / 33.2404 | 24 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 6w “CYPRUS, Paphos, 368 m | rd. F612 loc. 1 | 34.73358 / 32.64293 | 28 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 7w “CYPRUS, Paphos, 397 m | rd. F612 loc. 2 | 34.74329 / 32.67197 | 28 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 5w “CYPRUS, Larnaka, 47 m | Dipotamos dam | 34.91442 / 33.19712 | 23 IV 2022, J.D & C.G. [J. Demetriou & C. Georgiadis]” (MNHW); 1w “CYPRUS, Ammochostos (Famagusta), 51m | Cavo Greco | 34.96647 / 34.06698 | 25 IV 2022, J.D. & C.G. [J. Demetriou & C. Georgiadis]” (MNHW); 2w “CYPRUS, Paphos Prov., | Peyia Forest loc. 3, 390 m | 34.89366 / 32.3739 | 18.04.2022, S. Salata” (MNHW); 1w “CYPRUS, Paphos Prov., | Peyia Forest loc. 3, 390 m | 34.889366 / 32.37390 18– | 04.2022, S. Salata, CY010” (MNHW); 1w “CYPRUS, Paphos distr. 363 m | Pegeia Forest n. Pegeia | 34°53.853 N / 32°22.046 E | 4 V 2012, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 12w “CYPRUS, Paphos distr. 363 m | Pegeia Forest n. Pegeia | 34°53.853 N / 32°22.046 E | 4 V 2012, L. Borowiec || Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC–CY00155” (MNHW); 12w “CYPRUS, Paphos distr. 374 m | Pegeia Forest n. Pegeia | 34°53.751 N / 32°22.224 E | 7 V 2012, L. Borowiec || Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC–CY00154” (MNHW); 12w “CYPRUS, Paphos distr. 374 m | Pegeia Forest n. Pegeia | 34.88333 N / 32.36666 E | 7 V 2012, L. Borowiec || Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC–CY00156” (MNHW); 5w “CYPRUS, Paphos distr. 363 m | Pegeia Forest n. Pegeia | 34.88333 N / 32.3666 E | 4 V 2012, L. Borowiec || Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC–CY00157” (MNHW); 3w “CYPRUS, Paphos Prov. | Aphrodite’s Rock, Kouklia | 5 m, 34.66417 N / 32.6269 E | 4 II 2017, S. Salata || Collection L. Borowiec | Formicidae | LBC–CY00193” (MNHW).