Strumigenys argiola

From Fellner et al 2007: The distribution area of P. argiola is centred around the Mediterranean basin (Bernard, 1968), which implies that it is a thermophilic species mainly of open landscapes (see localities in southern Switzerland and Hungary). In Switzerland, for example, P. argiola was found in calcareous lean grassland (canton Jura) and in a dry pine forest (Pfynwald, canton Wallis). The new records from the extreme east and south of Austria fit rather well into the known distributional pattern: the nearest records approximately 200 km to the east of Lower Austria are from Central Hungary and the records from Carinthia parallel those from the southern Alps in Switzerland. As detailed above, the Austrian localities are also characterized by rather warm microclimatic conditions during the vegetation period.

Distribution
This species is unusual for a Pyramica in its occurrence in southern Europe. It is currently known from Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Corsica, Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Greece.

This taxon was described from Italy.

Nomenclature

 *  argiola. Epitritus argiolus Emery, 1869a: 136, fig. 1 (q.) ITALY. Emery, 1875a: 75 (w.); Emery, 1875b: 473 (w.); André, 1883b: 404 (m.). Combination in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani, 1998: 163; in Pyramica: Bolton, 1999: 1672. Senior synonym of barbara: Brown, 1949b: 44; in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 115. See also: Kutter, 1977c: 168; Bolton, 2000: 288.
 * barbara. Epitritus argiolus var. barbara Santschi, 1923a: 136 (w.) TUNISIA. Junior synonym of argiola: Brown, 1949b: 44.

Additional References

 * Baroni Urbani, C. & De Andrade, M.L. 2007. The ant tribe Dacetini: limits and constituent genera, with descriptions of new species. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “G. Doria” 99: 1-191.*[[Media:Fellner 2009.pdf|Fellner, T., Borovsky, V. & K. Fiedler 2009. First records of the dacetine ant species Pyramica argiola (Emery, 1869) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Austria. Myrmecological News Vol. 12: 167-169. PDF]]