Formica lemani
| Formica lemani | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_874522.jpg)
Formica lemani |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Formica lemani | ||||||||||
| Bondroit , 1917 |
Formica lemani from the subfamily of the scale ants (Formicinae) belongs to the genus of wood ants ( Formica ) and there to the subgenus of slave ants ( Serviformica ).
features
The workers are about 3 to 6 millimeters long, the queens 10 to 12 millimeters. As is typical for the subgenus Serviformica , the rear edge of the head is straight and not indented and the shaft section (scapus) of the antennae is relatively long. Formica lemani is black-gray throughout, red-colored parts of the mesosoma are not present. The body is relatively dull and not very shiny. The species is very similar to its sister species Formica fusca and cannot be distinguished from this without microscopic examination; in the past it was often only viewed as a form or subspecies of this. The morphological differentiation to fusca is only possible through the hairiness. This includes the hair on different parts of the body (femora, pronotum, mesonotum). Formica lemani has more hairs. Although sometimes individual animals (especially small workers) cannot be reliably assigned to one of the species, the assignment of nests is usually possible without any problems. The species can be distinguished genetically and by the hydrocarbon signature of their cuticles. The genetic examinations did not reveal any evidence of the formation of hybrids with fusca .
distribution
Formica lemani lives in Europe in the Alps across the German low mountain ranges to northern Scandinavia, it is also found in Great Britain. In Great Britain, it lives in Scotland and Wales and in moorland in the southwest, but is absent in the southeast. She also lives in Ireland, where fusca is only found in the far south. It is largely absent everywhere in the plain and in lower altitudes, but occurs here very rarely and exceptionally in very cool microhabitats , e.g. B. on bog edges. Evidence is available to the east as far as Mongolia.
Formica lemani and Formica fusca show a vicarious distribution pattern, i.e. In other words, they rarely occur together or next to each other in the same habitat. In general, lemani is widespread in habitats that are climatically or locally climatically cooler. It occurs further north in Scandinavia and at higher altitudes in the mountains. In general, fusca occurs preferentially in the plain and at low sea levels , lemani in the higher altitudes above ( collin to subalpine ). In the German low mountain ranges it replaces fusca from about 450 meters above sea level, in the Alps above about 700 to 1000 meters. In the Alps it reaches 2,400 meters above sea level, but rarely comes above the tree line, e.g. B. in alpine lawns.
In Germany the species is moderately common and harmless at higher altitudes.
Ecology and habitat
Formica lemani is common in both wooded and open habitats. It lives in light forests of all kinds, meadows and other habitats with vegetation, but avoids the interior of closed forests. In Scandinavia it is typical for younger coniferous forests and forests with a canopy that is not yet closed. It is not very particular about soil moisture. In general, the range of habitats it populates hardly differs from that of fusca . The species makes nests in dead wood (tree stumps) as well as in the ground or under stones. It prefers vertical, relatively little branched tunnel systems. Formica lemani feeds mainly predatory (zoophag).
According to studies of the genetic structure, the species prefers nests that are established by a single queen, but also nests with several queens. The species is not particularly widespread and is not one of the first colonists in newly created biotopes. But it seems to be a bit more spreading than fusca .
Formica lemani is host to the socially parasitic hoverfly species Microdon mutabilis . The larvae of the hover fly live up to two years in the nests, where they feed on ants' brood.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Formica Lemani at AntWeb
- ↑ a b Bernhard Seifert: Observe, determine ants. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg, 1996. ISBN 3-89440-170-2
- ↑ a b c Seppä, Perttu; Helanterä, Heikki Oskari; Trontti, Kalevi; Punttila, Pekka; Chernenko, Anton; Martin, Stephen J .; Sundström, Liselotte The many ways to delimit species: hairs, genes and surface chemistry. Myrmecological news vol 15: 31-41.
- ↑ Formica Lemani at bwars.com
- ↑ Martin Pfeiffer, Roland Schultz, Alexander Radchenko, Seiki Yamane, Michal Woyciechowski, Aibek Ulykpan, Bernhard Seifert (2006): A Critical Checklist of the Ants of Mongolia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Bonner Zoological Contributions Volume 55, Issue 1: 1-8.
- ↑ O. Eichhorn (1971): On the distribution and ecology of Formica fusca L. and F. lemani Bondroit in the main forest types of the Central European mountain forests (at the same time a contribution to the "silver fir problem" in the Thuringian forest). Journal of Applied Entomology 68: 337-344. Full text
- ↑ Florian Glaser (2009): The ants of the Principality of Liechtenstein (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Natural history research in the Principality of Liechtenstein 26. ISBN 978-3-9523234-3-4
- ↑ Jerome Buhl, Jacques Gautrais, Jean Louis Deneubourg, Pascale Kuntz, Guy Theraulaz (2006): The growth and form of tunneling networks in ants. Journal of Theoretical Biology 243: 287-298.
- ↑ Seppä, P., Helantera, H., Chernenko, A., Troniti, K., Punttila, P., Sundström, L. (2009): Population genetics of the black ant Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 97: 247-258. doi : 10.1111 / j.1095-8312.2009.01192.x
- ^ GW Elmes, B. Barr, JA Thomas, RT Clarke (1999): Extreme host specificity by Microdon mutabilis (Diptera: Syrphiae), a social parasite of ants. Proceedings of the Royal Society London Series B vol. 266 no.1418: 447-453. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.1999.0658