Strongylognathus Mayr

[[Genus Strongylognathus Mayr]]

Strongylognathus Mayr, 1853 is a widespread Palaearctic ant genus, which exclusively comprises permanent social parasites dependent on Tetramorium Mayr, 1855 host species. Despite being well represented in Europe and Asia (e.g., Pisarski 1966, Baroni Urbani 1969, Radchenko 1991), taxonomy and distribution of most Strongylognathus species still remain unsatisfactorily known. Bolton (1976), when diagnosing Strongylognathus and the tribe Tetramoriini (Myrmicinae), has pointed out that many of the species level names in Strongylognathus may merely represent local populations and, with more information becoming available, the number of valid species will dwindle considerably. The comprehensive list of Bolton (1995) recognizes 26 species, not taking into account the synonymy of S. ruzskyi Emery, 1909 with S. christophi Emery, 1889 proposed by Radchenko (1991). Two synonyms of S. destefanii Emery, 1915 (S. cecconii Emery, 1916 and S. emeryi Menozzi, 1921) have since then been established (Sanetra et al. 1999), bringing the number of taxa currently residing in species rank to 23.

Two nominal species of Strongylognathus have been described from northern Africa.