Aphaenogaster sporadis Santschi, 1933

Demetriou, Jakovos, Georgiadis, Christos, Salata, Sebastian, Koutsoukos, Evangelos, Borowiec, Lech & Triantis, Kostas A., 2025, Notes on the ant biodiversity, ecology and biogeography (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Astypalaia Island (SE Aegean), Journal of Natural History 59 (25 - 28), pp. 1807-1823 : 1811-1812

Aphaenogaster sporadis Santschi, 1933

Localities. A006; A020.

Surrounding islets. Ofidoussa ( Scupola and Borowiec 2023).

Notes. A species widespread in Cyprus and Turkey. Its distribution in Greece spans across the south-eastern Aegean islands bordering the coasts of Turkey ( Borowiec and Salata 2025); as such, its presence on Astypalaia could be well justified. Nevertheless, on Astypalaia the species was found only in urban areas near the island’s port (Pera Gialos) and nearby inside its capital (Chora), despite the evident habitat suitability across the island. Aphaenogaster sporadis was observed nesting near houses and/or premises under renovation, which may indicate its import through construction material from neighbouring larger islands such as Rodos. Its limited distribution may be attributed to its rather recent introduction to Astypalaia. Therefore, we speculate that the species may have been introduced onto the island from neighbouring regions where it is native, deeming it an alien within Greece. In the case of the species being native to the island, it is rather strange that such a common, granivorous species with large colonies was not observed during the spring season in phrygana or agricultural sites throughout the island. However, the record of the species from the uninhabited islet of Ofidoussa ( Borowiec et al. 2021; Scupola and Borowiec 2023) casts more doubt and highlights the need for further investigation of the range of A. sporadis in the Aegean.