Slightly bristled mountain ant
| Slightly bristled mountain ant | ||||||||||
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Weakly bristled mountain ant ( Formica aquilonia ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Formica aquilonia | ||||||||||
| Yarrow , 1955 |
The slightly bristled mountain ant ( Formica aquilonia ) belongs to the genus of wood ants ( Formica ) in the subfamily of scale ants (Formicinae).
features
The gaster and the top of the head are black. The cheeks and head shield as well as the legs are black-brown, whereas the rest of the body is predominantly red in color. The back of the head has clearly standing hair at the corners and the underside of the head is covered with individual protruding hairs. The largely bald mesosoma shows only a few hairs at most. The two black spots on the pronotum and mesonotum appear clear, of different sizes and indistinctly outlined. The workers are 4 to 8.5 millimeters long. The stalk link ( Petiolus ) is covered with shorter hair than that of the heavily bristled mountain ant ( Formica lugubris ) or the Swiss mountain ant ( Formica paralugubris ), with which this species is very easy to confuse.
distribution and habitat
The range extends over the boreal zone from Scotland to eastern Siberia . In Europe , the low-bristled mountain ant is also found more south in the mountains, such as in the Bohemian Forest , Blansker Forest , Gratzener Bergland , the Carpathians and in the Eastern Alps up to 2,400 meters. It predominantly inhabits mixed montane (spruce) beech and fir forests and subalpine forest types, but penetrates less into the timber belt at the tree line than the other mountain ant Formica lugubris .
Way of life
This species of ant forms highly polygynous states that often contain many nests. It shows little aggressiveness towards non-colony representatives of the same species. The sex animals swarm between late May and late July. Mating takes place in or on the nest, and external mating sites are also flown to. The young queens are adopted from the mother's nest or other species-specific nests. Monogynous colonies are not yet known, nor have new foundations in slave ants been proven, although it is assumed that both exist. The hills are significantly smaller than those of the bald-backed wood ant ( Formica polyctena ). The largest known nests in Finland are 210 centimeters high and 280 centimeters wide.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dieter Otto: The red wood ants . (3rd, revised and expanded edition.) Westarp Sciences 2005; 192 pages, 77 ills., ISBN 3-89432718-9
- ↑ a b Bernhard Seifert : The ants of Central and Northern Europe . lutra Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Görlitz / Tauer 2007, ISBN 978-3-936412-03-1
Web links
- Pictures of Formica aquilonia at the German Ant Conservation Center
- Formica aquilonia inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Social Insects Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved October 9, 2013.