Hollow back wooden ant

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Hollow back wooden ant
Hollow-backed wood ant (Camponotus lateralis)

Hollow-backed wood ant ( Camponotus lateralis )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Family : Ants (Formicidae)
Subfamily : Scale ants (Formicinae)
Genre : Ross ants ( Camponotus )
Type : Hollow back wooden ant
Scientific name
Camponotus lateralis
( Olivier , 1792)
Camponotus lateralis workers.jpg

The hollow-backed wood ant ( Camponotus lateralis ) is a species of ant from the genus of the ross ants that is widespread throughout the Mediterranean .

features

The head, thorax , scale and legs are light maroon to light reddish brown. The guests are black, the first segment is mostly brownish. The segment edges are lined with pale yellow. Workers grow to be 3–7 mm long, queens 8.5–10 mm, males 5–7 mm. The colonies are monogynous, which means that they only have one queen. The rush season for the wedding flight is April to May.

Way of life

The hollow-backed wooden ant is a resident of dead wood, but can also occur under stones. As with all Camponotus species , her food is mainly honeydew , i.e. In other words, it feeds on the sweet excretory secretion of the aphids , which they store in the largest workers, called "honey pots". In addition, these ants can feed on preyed insects. They form smaller colonies, the nests of which have strikingly large, trough-shaped chambers.

distribution

The hollow-backed wood ant lives in dry, warm areas in the Mediterranean. The species was previously also given for southern Germany, but according to Bernhard Seifert , these observations are likely to be confused with the related species Camponotus piceus . In southern Central Europe, the northern distribution only extends to South Tyrol and Ticino . In Southeastern Europe the ant species is z. B. known from Istria and the islands of Croatia , the distribution area extends over Asia Minor to the Caucasus and the Crimea . The deposits on the Iberian Peninsula , e.g. B. in Catalonia including the Balearic Islands are well studied. There are other occurrences in North Africa .

Systematics

Camponotus lateralis belongs to the subgenus Orthonotomyrmex within the genus Camponotus .

Subspecies:

  • Camponotus lateralis lateralis (Olivier, 1792)
  • Camponotus lateralis cypridis Santschi, 1939
  • Camponotus lateralis purius Santschi, 1929
  • Camponotus lateralis rebeccae Forel, 1913
  • Camponotus lateralis rhodius Santschi, 1934

Individual evidence

  1. Bernhard Seifert: The ants of Central and Northern Europe. Tauer: Lutra Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Tauer 2007, p. 268
  2. Camponotus lateralis ( Memento of the original dated December 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Profile at World of Ants (German)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / worldofants.de
  3. Bernhard Seifert: Ants: observe, determine. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1996
  4. Antoni Lombarte, Sergio Romero de Tejada and Andres de Haro: Contribution al conocimiento de los faunístico formícidos de la sierra de Collserola (Barcelona). Orsis, 4, pp. 125–140, 1989 full text (PDF, Spanish)
  5. Distribution map of the Iberian Peninsula
  6. North Africa Species List ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at formicidae.org (engl.)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.formicidae.org

literature

  • Bernhard Seifert: Ants: observe, determine. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1996
  • Bernhard Seifert: The ants of Central and Northern Europe. Lutra publishing and sales company, Tauer 2007

Web links

Commons : Hollow Back Wood Ant  - Collection of images, videos and audio files