Temnothorax affinis

A relatively common, arboreal species usually inhabiting twigs in southern European (Rigato & Toni, 2011) and associated with broad-leaved forests in Russia (Zryanin & Zryanina, 2007).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Cuba. Palaearctic Region: Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland.

Fungi
This species is a host for the endoparastic fungus Myrmicinosporidium durum (Espadaler & Santamaria, 2012).

Nomenclature

 *  affinis. Leptothorax affinis Mayr, 1855: 442 (w.) AUSTRIA. Forel, 1874: 88 (q.); Stitz, 1914: 62 (m.). Combination in Temnothorax: Bolton, 2003: 271. Subspecies of tuberum: Forel, 1874: 85; Forel, 1892i: 314; Bondroit, 1910: 496; Emery, 1916b: 174; Emery, 1924d: 256. Status as species: Bondroit, 1918: 128; Müller, 1923: 93; Finzi, 1933: 164; Stitz, 1939: 173; Bernard, 1956a: 163; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 102; Kutter, 1977c: 130; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 133. Senior synonym of tirolensis: Emery, 1914d: 158 (footnote); of tuberoaffinis: Kutter, 1977c: 14.
 * tirolensis. Leptothorax tirolensis Gredler, 1858: 26 (w.) AUSTRIA. Subspecies of tuberum: Emery & Forel, 1879: 459. Status as species: André, 1883a: 297; Dalla Torre, 1893: 127. Junior synonym of affinis: Emery, 1914d: 158 (footnote).

Type Material
Types studied by Salata et al. (2018): Temnothorax affinis: Syntype (w.) (CASENT0907571): [Fully | 14.VII-17 || Clypeus mit längskiel | Fuhlerschaft Kü (…) || als bei tuberum || Typus || ANTWEB | CASENT | 0907571 || Catalogué | Base MZL || two other labels – unreadable writing] (MZLS).