Strongylognathus silvestrii

Identification
The sympatric occurrence of Strongylognathus huberi dalmaticus and S. silvestrii on Crete supports the distinctiveness of the two taxa. They differ in many characters: in dorsal view S. silvestrii appears slimmer than S. h. dalmaticus, with more narrow petiole and postpetiole; sculpture of the head in S. silvestrii is residual with only few striae on sides of anterior margin of head and behind eyes while in S. h. dalmaticus distinct striae occur on sides of anterior margin of head, around antennal scrobes, on sides of frontal triangle and on sides of head, also along ventral margin of eyes. Punctation of head in S. silvestrii is distinctly finer and sparser than in S. h. dalmaticus. Propodeal spines in S. silvestrii are distinctly smaller than in S. h. dalmaticus. S. silvestrii has less sculptured petiole and postpetiole with anterior face and top of nodes mostly smooth and shiny while in S. h. dalmaticus the anterior face of petiole is microreticulate and partly dull, top of nodes completely microreticulate with few low rugae.

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

Nomenclature

 * . Strongylognathus silvestrii Menozzi, 1936d: 292, fig. XIV (w.q.) GREECE (Rhodes I.).
 * Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated, “several”), 1 syntype queen.
 * Type-locality: Greece: Rhodes I., Cattavia and Mt Attairo, 800 m. (C. Menozzi?).
 * Type-depository: IEUB.
 * Status as species: Kutter, 1968b: 205; Bolton, 1976: 309; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 57; Bolton, 1995b: 395; Schulz, A. & Sanetra, 2002: 164; Legakis, 2011: 20; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 537; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 24; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2013: 367; Borowiec, L. 2014: 164; Lebas, et al. 2016: 338; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 48.
 * Distribution: Greece, Turkey.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bolton B. 1976. The ant tribe Tetramoriini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Constituent genera, review of smaller genera and revision of Triglyphothrix Forel. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 34:281-379.
 * 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. 2013. Ants of Greece  additions and corrections (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 24(3-4): 335-401.
 * 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. Taxonomic and faunistic notes on Greek ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27: 1-51.
 * Schulz, A., and M. Sanetra. "Notes on the socially parasitic ants of Turkey and the synonymy of Epimyrma (Hymenoptera: Formcidae)." Entomofauna, Zeitschrift für Entomologie 23 (14) (2002): 157-172.