A survey of ant-aphid associations was conducted by collecting and identifying samples of ants and aphids found together on aphid host plants in Mashhad region, Razavi Khorasan province of Iran. As a result, a total of 21 ant species representing 13 genera and 3 subfamilies and 26 aphid species belonging to 13 genera from 37 host plant species were collected and identified. Among the recorded ant species, the genus Crematogaster with four species had the highest species richness. The three most frequent aphid attendant ants were Lepisiota nigra (Dalla Torre, 1893), Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798) and Crematogaster inermis Mayr, 1862 associated with 11, 10 and 9 aphid species, respectively. Eleven ant species were recorded from the colonies of one aphid species. Among the recorded ants, the species Crematogaster sordidula (Nylander, 1849) is new to Iranian ant fauna. This record increases the recorded ant-fauna of Iran to over 171 species. Among the identified aphid species, Aphis craccivora Koch, 1856 had the highest ant attraction. Also, Aphis salicariae Koch, 1855; Chaitophorus hillerislambersi Pintera 1987; Chaitophorus israeliticus Eastop and Hille Ris Lambers, 1976; Cinara maghrebica Mimeur, 1934 and Schizaphis nigerrima (Hille Ris Lambers, 1931) are first records for aphid fauna of Iran. The aphids, their attendant ants, and host plants collected in this study are given. Findings of this preliminary study indicated that much more detailed study should be conducted to investigate aphid-ant mutualistic associations in Iran.

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