Aphaenogaster festae

In Greece, Aphaenogaster festae is a common ant. It nests in various habitats, mostly under stones in unshaded pine forests but has also been observed in suburban areas overgrown by macchia, ruderal areas in tourist resorts and in stream valleys with plane-tree or other deciduous forest stands. These ants are likely nocturnal, as workers have never been observed during the day. The Bulgarian record is the northernmost record in Europe of A. festae (Borowiec et al., 2019).

Identification
A member of the Aphaenogaster splendida species group (sensu Schulz, 1994; Borowiec et al., 2019).

Distribution
Known from  Bulgaria, Greece (East Aegean Islands and Dodecanese) and western Turkey. A record from Iraq of this species requires confirmation (Borowiec, 2014; Borowiec et al., 2019).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Bulgaria, Greece, Iraq, Turkey.

Nomenclature

 *  festae. Aphaenogaster splendida subsp. festae Emery, 1915h: 2 (w.) GREECE. Menozzi, 1936d: 270 (q.). Combination in Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma): Emery, 1921f: 60. Raised to species: Arnol'di, 1976b: 1024 (in key); Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 53.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * 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. 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
 * Czechowski W., A. Radchenko, W. Czechowska and K. Vepsäläinen. 2012. The ants of Poland with reference to the myrmecofauna of Europe. Fauna Poloniae 4. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 1-496 pp
 * Emery, C. "Escursioni zoologiche del Dr. Enrico Festa nell'Isola di Rodi. XII. Formiche." Bollettino del Museo di Zoologia ed Anatomia Comparatadella Reale Università di Torino 30 (1915): 1-7.
 * 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.
 * Kiran K., and C. Karaman. 2012. First annotated checklist of the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3548: 1-38.
 * Legakis Collection Database
 * 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. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.