Lepisiota karawaiewi

This species is limited to Central Asia (Borowiec & Salata, 2013). Pashaei Rad et al. (2018) found this species in Iran in a montane area with low rainfall.

Records of this species from Greece and Serbia need confirmation, and the group of bicoloured Lepisiota species needs revision (Borowiec, 2014).

Distribution
First recorded generally from the Balkan peninsula by Agosti and Collingwood (1987a), then recorded from Aegean Islands and Crete by Legakis (2011) based on unpublished check-lists of ants of Chios prepared by Taylor and Clee in 2008 and of Crete prepared by Collingwood in 1990. Legakis (2011) noted also its occurrence in Ionian Islands and Cyclades. In our opinion all records mentioned above are based on misinterpretations of other taxa of the frauenfeldti-nigra group. The true L. karawaiewi occurs only in Central Asia, further records from Kuwait and United Arab Emirates also need confirmation. (Borowiec & Salata, 2013.)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates. Palaearctic Region: Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait.

Nomenclature

 *  karawaiewi. Acantholepis frauenfeldi subsp. karawaiewi Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929c: 483 (w.q.m.) KAZAKHSTAN. [First available use of Acantholepis frauenfeldi st. melas var. karawaiewi Santschi, 1917d: 44; unavailable name.] Combination in Lepisiota: Bolton, 1995b: 227. Raised to species: Pisarski, 1967: 410; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 57. Junior synonym of semenovi: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 163. Revived from synonymy: Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 366. [Note. This name sometimes misspelled as karawajewi.]

Taxonomic Notes
Taxonomic status of this taxon, as well as many other species of the genus Lepisiota, needs a detailed revision (Borowiec & Salata, 2012).

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.
 * Collingwood, C. A. 1993. A Comparitive Study of the Ant Fauna of Five Greek Islands. Biologia Gallo-hellenica. 20,1:191-197
 * Collingwood, C. A.. "A comparative study of the ant fauna of five Greek islands." Biologia Gallo-Hellenica 20 (1993): 191-197.
 * Karavaiev V. 1926. Beiträge zur Ameisenfauna des Kaukasus, nebst einigen Bemerkungen über andere palaearktische Formen. (Schluss). Konowia 5: 187-199.
 * Khalili-Moghadam A., L. Borowiec, and A. Nemati. 2019. New records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province of Iran with taxonomic comments. Polish Journal of Entomology 88 (2): 163–182.
 * Kuznetsov-Ugamsky N. N. 1929. Die Gattung Acantholepis in Turkestan. Zoologischer Anzeiger 82: 477-492.
 * Pashaei Rad S., B. Taylor, R. Torabi, E. Aram, G. Abolfathi, R. Afshari, F. Borjali, M. Ghatei, F. Hediary, F. Jazini, V. Heidary Kiah, Z. Mahmoudi, F. Safariyan, and M. Seiri. 2018. Further records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Iran. Zoology in the Middle East 64(2): 145-159.
 * Pisarski B. 1964. Fauna Mrowek Afganistanu. Bibliogr. k. 160-166, Nieoprawiony maszynopis pracy, Praca doktorska. Instytut Zoologiczny PAN, 1964, Bibliogr. p. 160-166
 * Pisarski B. 1967. Fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) d'Afghanistan récoltées par M. Dr. K. Lindberg. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 24: 375-425.
 * Santschi, F.. "Acantholepis Frauenfeldi Mayr et ses variétés." Bulletin de la Société d' Histoire naturelle de l' Afrique du Nord 8 (1917): 42-48.