Lasius austriacus
| Lasius austriacus | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lasius austriacus | ||||||||||||
| Schlick-Steiner , Steiner , Schödl and Seifert , 2003 |
The garden ant Lasius austriacus was discovered in 2002 and described in 2003. So far it is only known from Lower Austria and the Czech Republic near the Austrian border.
features
The color of Lasius austriacus is brown-yellow. The colonies live monogynously , i.e. with only one queen per nest, and form colonies with up to 10,000 individuals. Lasius austriacus is similar to the related species Lasius neglectus , but it is polygynous and often forms super colonies . However, this species has not yet been proven for Austria. Lasius austriacus is placed within the genus of the garden ants to the subgenus Lasius sensu stricto , so Lasius in the narrower sense. The workers of the species Lasius austriacus are the smallest within this subgenus. The queens (Gynen) are on average larger than those of the closely related species Lasius neglectus . The wedding flight takes place between July and September.
Way of life
Lasius austriacus occurs in hot, dry, natural rock corridors. The species lives mainly underground, as it feeds mainly on the secretions of the root lice ( Euripersia europaea ), which are kept in underground chambers ( trophobiosis ).
The subject of detailed investigations is the aggressive behavior of Lasius austriacus . Particularly noticeable is their peaceful behavior towards species of the same species, but coming from foreign nests. This behavior is otherwise only known from the super colonies of other ant species such as Lasius neglectus . With Lasius austriacus , however, one cannot speak of super-colonies, since the individual peoples are genetically too different. In the case of invasive or introduced species, the origin of a large population from a few individuals and thus the close relationship seems to be the main reason for the elimination of intraspecific aggression. With Lasius austriacus , other factors must be decisive.
literature
- Florian M. Steiner, Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner, Stefan Schödl, Xavier Espadaler, Bernhard Seifert, Ernst Christian and Christian Stauffer: Phylogeny and bionomics of Lasius austriacus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Insects sociaux, 51, pp. 24-29, 2004
- Florian M. Steiner, Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner et al .: The advantage of combining different disciplines in fine-scale systematics: Lasius austriacus, the latest addition to the Central European ant family. In: IUSSI, Regensburg 2003
- Florian M. Steiner, Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner and Stefan Schödl: Red List of Selected Animal Groups Lower Austria Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Office of the Provincial Government of Lower Austria, Nature Conservation Department, St. Pölten 2003
- Florian M. Steiner, Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner, Stefan Schödl and Bernhard Seifert: Corrigendum concerning "Schlick-Steiner BC, Steiner FM, Schödl Su Seifert B. 2003, Lasius austriacus sp. N. A Central European ant related to the invasive sp. Lasius neglectus, Sociobiology, 41, 725-736. " Sociobiology, 43, p. 389, 2004
Web links
- Image from Lasius austriacus press photos from the University of Innsbruck from October 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Florian M. Steiner, Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner, Stefan Schödl and Bernhard Seifert: Lasius austriacus sp. n., a Central European ant related to the invasive species Lasius neglectus. Sociobiology, 41, pp. 725–736, 2003 full text ( memento of the original from March 2, 2013 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. (PDF; 1.35 MB, English)
