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Temnothorax nikoklesi
| Temnothorax nikoklesi | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Crematogastrini |
| Genus: | Temnothorax |
| Species group: | exilis |
| Species: | T. nikoklesi |
| Binomial name | |
| Temnothorax nikoklesi Satala, Demetriou, Georgiadis & Borowiec, 2024 | |
Thermophilous species. Most workers were collected from limestone rocks in the open, sunny ruderal area near the citrus orchard and stones near the beach. A few workers were shaken off into the entomological umbrella from juniper bushes growing on the limestone rock. Also, one specimen was shaken off into the entomological umbrella from bushes inside a pine forest. Nests could not be found, probably as in the Greek representatives of the Temnothorax exilis group, they nest inside the rock crevices.
Photo Gallery
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Identification
Temnothorax nikoklesi is a member of the T. exilis species group and belongs to the complex of species characterized by the dark (brown to black) body, predominantly brown antennal scapus and femora, dark antennal club, head with the partly smooth and shiny area but strongly sculptured sides of mesosoma, petiole with well-marked peduncle and subangulate or angulate petiolar node. This complex of species is poorly known and requires a revision, especially fauna of the Balkans and Greek islands appear to be diverse and severely understudied.
Temnothorax nikoklesi well differs from all studied populations from the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin in very long, needle-shaped propodeal spines. Only some populations from Karpathos (Dodecanese, Greece) have similarly long propodeal spines but the spines are not needle-shaped, have distinctly widened bases, and are often slightly curved; while in T. nikoklesi spines have base not or only slightly widened and tops are not or very slightly curved. The propodeal spines in populations from Karpathos run more obliquely posterad while in T. nikoklesi they run almost perpendicular to the surface of the propodeum. Sculpture of mesosoma in T. nikoklesi is stronger and more rugose than in most studied populations from Balkans and Greek islands. No Cypriot species of Temnothorax is similar to T. nikoklesi, species from T. angustulus group differ in shorter petiole lacking distinct peduncle, mesosoma with shallow metanotal groove and shorter erect setae on mesosoma and first gastral tergite.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
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Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 34.8° to 34.7°.
| 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.
- nikoklesi. Temnothorax nikoklesi Satala et al., 2024: 23, figs. 16-18, 62 (w.) CYPRUS.
Type Material
- Holotype: worker (pin) “CYPRUS, Paphos, Kato | Paphos, ruins, 34 m | 34.75368 / 32.43391 | 17 IV 2022, S. Salata” (MNHW).
- Paratypes (21 workers, pin): 5w, the same data as for holotype; 6w “CYPRUS, Paphos, Kato | Paphos, 32 m | 34.75368 / 32.43391 | 17 IV 2022, L. Borowiec” (MNHW); 9w “CYPRUS, Paphos, 6 m | Lempa-Kisonegra | 34.816 / 32.3931 | 20 III 2022, J. Demetriou” (MNHW); 1w “CYPRUS, Paphos, 387 m | rd F612 loc. 2 | 34.74385 / 32.6722 | 28 IV 2022, S. Salata” (MNHW).