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Genus: Aphaenogaster   Mayr, 1853 

Classification:

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2020)

Extant: 205 valid species, 22 valid subspecies

Fossil: 19 valid species

Aphaenogaster Mayr, 1853c PDF: 107. Type-species: Aphaenogaster sardoa, by subsequent designation of Bingham, 1903 PDF: 270. AntCat AntWiki

Taxonomic history

Aphaenogaster in Myrmicinae: Mayr, 1855 PDF: 466 [Myrmicidae]; Mayr, 1865 PDF: 19 [Myrmicidae]; Emery & Forel, 1879: 461 [Myrmicidae]; Cresson, 1887 PDF: 260 [Myrmicidae]; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 98.
Aphaenogaster in Myrmicinae, Pheidolini: Emery, 1877b PDF: 81 [Pheidolidae]; Emery, 1914e PDF: 40; Forel, 1917 PDF: 241; Emery, 1921c PDF: 55 [subtribe Stenammini]; Wheeler, 1922: 661; Brown, 1949a PDF: 48; Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 131; all subsequent authors.
Aphaenogaster as junior synonym of Atta: Mayr, 1863a PDF: 395.
Aphaenogaster as genus: Emery, 1908d PDF: 309; all subsequent authors.
Genus Aphaenogaster references
Mayr, 1855 PDF: 466 (diagnosis); Roger, 1863b PDF: 29 (catalogue); Mayr, 1865 PDF: 19 (diagnosis); Mayr, 1867a PDF: 92 (diagnosis); Forel, 1874 PDF: 74 (Switzerland species key); André, 1883b: 348 (Europe & Algeria species key); Mayr, 1886d PDF: 443 (U.S.A. species key); Cresson, 1887 PDF: 260 (U.S.A. catalogue); Emery, 1888: 531 (Aphaenogaster (Ischnomyrmex) species key); Nasonov, 1889: 74 (Russia species key); Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 98 (catalogue); Forel, 1903a PDF: 693 (India & Sri Lanka species key); Bingham, 1903 PDF: 270 (India, Sri Lanka & Burma species key); Ruzsky, 1905b: 714 (Russian Empire species key); Emery, 1908d PDF: 310 (Palaearctic species key); Bondroit, 1910 PDF: 495 (Belgium species key); Emery, 1916a PDF: 132 (Italy species key); Wheeler, 1916r: 585 (U.S.A., Connecticut species key); Wheeler, 1916n PDF: 213 (Australia species); Bondroit, 1918 PDF: 156 (France & Belgium species key); Emery, 1921c PDF: 55 (diagnosis, subgenera key, catalogue); Emery, 1921c PDF: 56, 61, 64, 65 (Attomyrma); Emery, 1921c PDF: 66 (Novomessor diagnosis, catalogue); Wheeler, 1922: 680 (subgenera key); Wheeler, 1922: 1016, 1029 (Aphaenogaster, Brunella catalogues); Wheeler & Creighton, 1934 PDF: 348 (Novomessor species key); Menozzi, 1939a PDF: 296 (Himalaya & Tibet species key); Stitz, 1939: 112 (Germany species key); Kratochvíl, 1941b PDF: 81 (Central Europe species key); Novák & Sadil, 1941 PDF: 81 (Central Europe species key); Cole, 1942 PDF: 363 (U.S.A., Utah species key); Buren, 1944a PDF: 284 (U.S.A., Iowa species key); Creighton, 1950a PDF: 140, 155 (North America Aphaenogaster, Novomessor species keys); Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 131 (Asia checklist); Smith, 1961b PDF: 218 (New Guinea species key); Gregg, 1963: 336 (U.S.A., Colorado species key); Bernard, 1967a PDF: 128 (diagnosis, Western Europe species key); Kempf, 1972b PDF: 22, 166 (Neotropical Aphaenogaster (Deromyrma), Novomessor catalogues); Arnol'di, 1976b PDF: 1023 (former U.S.S.R. species key); Kutter, 1977c: 77 (Switzerland species key); Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 536 (former European U.S.S.R. species key); Collingwood, 1978 PDF: 79 (Iberian Peninsula species key); Smith, 1979: 1359 (North America catalogue); Allred, 1982: 439 (U.S.A., Utah species key); Taylor & Brown, 1985: 54 (Australia catalogue); Gösswald, 1985: 298 (Germany species key); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1986g PDF: 35 (U.S.A., Nevada species key); Taylor, 1987a PDF: 8 (Australia checklist); Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b PDF: 269 (Balkans species key); Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 79 (synoptic classification); Dlussky et al., 1990 PDF: 211 (Turkmenistan species key); Brandão, 1991 PDF: 326 (Neotropical catalogue); Morisita et al., 1992: 15 (Japan species key); Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 107 (Bulgaria species key); Schulz, 1994a PDF: 425 (Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma), partial key); Arakelian, 1994 PDF: 29 (Armenia species key); Bolton, 1994: 106 (synoptic classification); Bolton, 1995a PDF: 1048 (census); Bolton, 1995b: 68 (catalogue); Wu & Wang, 1995a: 110 (China species key); Umphrey, 1996 PDF: 557 (North America Aphaenogaster fulva complex key); Cagniant, 1996a: 67 (Morocco species key); Seifert, 1996b: 156 (Central Europe species key); Collingwood & Prince, 1998: 13 (Portugal species key); Shattuck, 1999: 126 (Australia synopsis); Park & Kim, 2000a PDF: 108 (Korea species key); Zhou, 2001a PDF: 142 (China, Guangxi species key); Mackay & MacKay, 2002 PDF: 60 (U.S.A., New Mexico species key); Longino & Cover, 2004 PDF: 1 (Aphaenogaster phalangium complex revision); Radchenko, 2005b PDF: 192 (North Korea species key); Seifert, 2007: 144 (North and Central Europe species key); Shattuck, 2008a PDF: 27 (Australia species revision, key); Terayama, 2009 PDF: 164 (Taiwan species key); Heterick, 2009 PDF: 144 (south-western Australia species key); Kiran & Alipanah, 2013 PDF (Iranian species key); Boer, 2013 PDF (testaceopilosa-group diagnosis, description revision, Europe species synopsis, Europe species key for workers, gynes and males; Europe Aphaenogaster species key); Borowiec & Salata, 2014a PDF (Mediterranean Aphaenogaster cecconii species-group revision; species key); Demarco & Cognato, 2015 10.1093/aesa/sau013 PDF: 1 (phylogeny); Salata & Borowiec, 2016 10.11646/zootaxa.4170.1.13 PDF: 194 (cecconii group key); Cantone, 2017 PDF: 185 (brief male diagnosis); Mackay & Dash, 2016 10.3157/061.142.0108 PDF: 1 (phalangium species complex key, revision); Sharaf et al., 2018 10.20362/am.010004 PDF: 17 (Arabian species key); Salata & Borowiec, 2018a 10.20362/am.010002 PDF: 12 (gibbosa group key); Gómez et al., 2018 10.13102/sociobiology.v65i2.2099 PDF: 221 (Iberian species key); Bračko et al., 2019 10.3897/zookeys.862.32946 PDF: 105 (graeca complex key); Fernández & Serna, 2019 PDF: 799 (Colombia species key)

Taxon Page Images:

Aphaenogaster fulva
Image copyright Alex Wild.

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Madagascar, Morocco, Tunisia
    Americas: Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, United States
    Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Cyprus, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey, Turkmenistan
    Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
    Oceania: Australia, Papua New Guinea
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oceania, Palearctic
  Native biogeographic regions (according to species list records):
    Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Neotropical, Palearctic

Biology:

Aphaenogaster is a genus of elongate, slender ants, which are very fast and agile in the field. Most species nest in the soil under stones or logs; some of the desert species nest in the soil with the nest entrance surrounded by pebbles. These ants are omnivorous, collecting dead insects and tending Homoptera or collect nectar. The colonies are moderately large to very large. This is a common genus in New Mexico and occurs in all habitats, but is especially common in desert regions.
(Modified from Mackay and Mackay, 2002).

Identification:

These ants can usually be easily distinguished by their elongate, slender habitus (general appearance). Their head is usually longer than broad, eye large, convex and placed at the middle of the head. The mesonotum of the worker is elongate and depressed, the propodeum usually has a pair of spines or small teeth. The workers could be confused with the minor workers of Pheidole, but differ in usually being much larger (over 3 mm total length, usually less than 3 mm in Pheidole), and that the antennal club is poorly defined and consists of four segments (well defined in Pheidole and usually consisting of three segments).
(From Mackay and Mackay, 2002).

References:

Mackay, W.P. and Mackay, E.E. (2002). The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The Edwin Mullen Press, Lewiston: 400 pp.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Scientific Name Status Publication Pages ModsID GoogleMaps
Aphaenogaster   Emery, C., 1908, Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) (Fortsetzung.). 3. Die mit Aphaenogaster verwandte Gattungen-gruppe., Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1908, pp. 305-338: 314, (download) 314 3843
Aphaenogaster   Ward, P. S., 2005, A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 936, pp. 1-68: 31, (download) 31 21008
Aphaenogaster   Emery, C., 1908, Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) (Fortsetzung.). 3. Die mit Aphaenogaster verwandte Gattungen-gruppe., Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1908, pp. 305-338: 309-310, (download) 309-310 3843
Aphaenogaster   Mohamed, S., Zalat, S. & Fadl, H., 2001, Taxonomy of ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) collected by pitfall traps from Sinai and Delta region, Egypt., Egyptian Journal of Natural History 3, pp. 40-61: 49, (download) 49 21622
Aphaenogaster   Forel, A., 1891, Histoire naturelle des Hymenopteres. Deuxieme partie: Les Formicides., Histoire Physique, Naturelle et Politique de Madagascar., Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale, pp. 1-231: 166, (download) 166 6734
Aphaenogaster   Eguchi, K., Viet, B. T. & Yamane, S., 2011, Generic synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part I - Myrmicinae and Pseudomyrmicinae., Zootaxa 2878, pp. 1-61: 12, (download) 12 23462
Aphaenogaster   Shattuck, S. O., 2008, Australian ants of the genus Aphaenogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 1677, pp. 25-45: 27-28, (download) 27-28 21723


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