Aphaenogaster epirotes

Identification
A member of the Aphaenogaster obsidiana-group.

Distribution
This is a common species, recorded from the Aegean Islands, the Ionian Islands, Epirus, Macedonia, the Peloponnese, Sterea Ellas, Thessaly and Thrace (Borowiec et al., 2022).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Israel, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey.

Nomenclature

 * . Stenamma (Aphaenogaster) epirotes Emery, 1895b: 72 (w.) ALBANIA.
 * Müller, 1923b: 50 (q.m.).
 * Combination in Aphaenogaster: Emery, 1908c: 336;
 * combination in Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma): Emery, 1921f: 58.
 * Subspecies of obsidiana: Emery, 1908c: 336; Forel, 1913d: 428; Müller, 1921: 49; Emery, 1921f: 58; Müller, 1923a: 67 (in key); Müller, 1923b: 50; Soudek, 1925b: 15; Finzi, 1930a: 155; Finzi, 1930d: 312; Cori & Finzi, 1931: 237; Zimmermann, 1935: 10; Finzi, 1939c: 153; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 50.
 * Status as species: Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 53; Kugler, J. 1988: 257; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 108; Bolton, 1995b: 69; Poldi, et al. 1995: 3; Bračko, 2006: 134; Bračko, 2007: 17; Vonshak, et al. 2009: 41; Lapeva-Gjonova, et al. 2010: 13; Karaman, M.G. 2011b: 16; Legakis, 2011: 6; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 463; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 16; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2013: 337; Borowiec, L. 2014: 11; Bračko, et al. 2014: 13; Lebas, et al. 2016: 258; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 42.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Agosti, D. and C.A. Collingwood. 1987. A provisional list of the Balkan ants (Hym. Formicidae) and a key to the worker caste. I. Synonymic list. Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft, 60: 51-62
 * Andoni V. 1977. Kontribut mbi Himenopteret e familjes Formicidae te vendit tone. Buletini I Shkencave te Natyres 31(2): 93-101.
 * 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.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
 * Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2018. Notes on ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Euboea Island, Central Greece. Annals of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom Entomology 27(5): 1-15.
 * 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
 * Bracko G., and L. Cesnik. 2016. Fist records of six ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for Slovenia. Natura Sloveniae 18(2): 39-46.
 * Bracko, G. 2006. Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) of Croatia. Acta Entomologica Slovenica 14(2): 131-156.
 * Bracko, G. "New species for the ant fauna of Slovenia (Hymenoptera:Formicidae)." Natura Sloneniae 5 (1) (2003): 17-25.
 * Bracko, G. "Review of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Croatia." Acta Entomologica Slovenica Vol 14 st (2006): 131-156.
 * 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. "Beiträge zur Kenntniss der palaearktischen Ameisen." Öfversigt af Finska Vetenskaps-Societetens Förhandlingar (Helsinki) 20 (1898): 124-151.
 * Forel, A. "Fourmis de la faune méditerranéenne récoltées par MM. U. et J. Sahlberg." Revue Suisse de Zoologie 21 (1913): 427-438.
 * Karaman M. G. 2011. A catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Montenegro. Podgorica: Catalogues 3, Volume 2, Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, 140 pp.
 * Kiran K., and C. Karaman. 2012. First annotated checklist of the ant fauna of Turkey (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3548: 1-38.
 * Kugler J. 1988. The zoogeography of Israel. 9. The zoogeography of social insects of Israel and Sinai. Monographiae biologicae 62: 251-275.
 * Lapeva-Gjonova, L., V. Antonova, A. G. Radchenko, and M. Atanasova. "Catalogue of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Bulgaria." ZooKeys 62 (2010): 1-124.
 * Legakis Collection Database
 * Müller G. 1921. Due nuove formiche della regione Adriatica. Boll. Soc. Adriat. Sci. Nat. Trieste 27(2): 46-49.
 * Müller, G. "Le formiche della Venezia Guilia e della Dalmazia." Bollettino della Società Adriatica di Scienze Naturali in Trieste 28 (1923): 11-180.
 * Petrov I. Z., and C. A. Collingwood. 1992. Survey of the myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Yugoslavia. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 44: 79-91.
 * 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.
 * Salata S., and L. Borowiec. 2019. Preliminary division of not socially parasitic Greek Temnothorax Mayr, 1861 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) with a description of three new species. ZooKeys 877: 81-131.
 * Soudek, S. "Dalmatsti mravenci." Casopis Csl. Spolecnosti Entomologické 20 (1-2) (1925): 12-17.
 * Vesnic A., and R. Skrijelj. 2013. Biodiversity, distribution and variability in species of the genus Aphaenogaster Mayr, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Natura Montenegrina 12(1): 97-107.
 * Vonshak M., and A. Ionescu-Hirsch. 2009. A checklist of the ants of Israel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Israel Journal of Entomology 39: 33-55.
 * Zimmermann, S. "Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Ameisenfauna Süddalmatiens." Verhandlungen der Zoologisch-Botanisch Gesellschaft in Wien 84 (1935): 1-65.