First record of Strumigenys membranifera (Emery, 1869) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Crete and Strumigenys baudueri (Emery, 1875) from Andros in Greece

ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e183370

First record of Strumigenys membranifera (Emery, 1869) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Crete and Strumigenys baudueri (Emery, 1875) from Andros in Greece

Antonios Loulakis^‡, Christos Georgiadis^§|, Dimitrios Kollaros^‡, Jakovos Demetriou^¶#¤, Ioannis Chasourakis^‡, Ioannis Zografakis^‡, Emmanouil Kabourakis^‡

‡ Olive, Vine & Agroecological Production Systems Lab Hellenic Mediterranean University (HMU), Heraklion, Greece§ Section of Zoology-Marine Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zografou, Greece| Zoology Museum of the University of Athens, Zografou, Greece¶ National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece# Joint Services Health Unit Cyprus, BFC RAF Akrotiri, Limassol, Cyprus¤ Enalia Physis Environmental Research Centre, Acropoleos 2, Aglantzia 2101, Nicosia, Cyprus

Corresponding author: Emmanouil Kabourakis ( ekabourakis@hmu.gr )

This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Loulakis A, Georgiadis C, Kollaros D, Demetriou J, Chasourakis I, Zografakis I, Kabourakis E (2025) First record of Strumigenys membranifera (Emery, 1869) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Crete and Strumigenys baudueri (Emery, 1875) from Andros in Greece. ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e183370

Abstract

The genus Strumigenys (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) comprises over 880 species globally. Strumigenys membranifera, a widely distributed tramp species, is known for its small size, thelytokous parthenogenesis, and predatory behavior.

Herein, we report the first occurrence of S. membranifera from the island of Crete, Greece. Specimens were collected in olive orchard agroecosystems located in the Messara valley, using pitfall traps during surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024. Furthermore, we report the first occurrence of S. baudueri from the island of Andros, Greece. Specimens were collected from leaf litter. These records expand our knowledge of the Strumigenys on the island of Crete and the Aegean Islands and contribute to our understanding of the ecology and distribution of native and non-native snappy detritus ants in Greece.

Keywords

Strumigenys, olive orchards, Crete, Andros, tramp species, Myrmicinae, snappy detritus ants