Heavily bristled mountain ant
| Heavily bristled mountain ant | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Strongly bristled mountain ant ( Formica lugubris ) |
||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Formica lugubris | ||||||||||
| Zetterstedt , 1838 |
The heavily bristled mountain ant ( Formica lugubris ) belongs to the genus of wood ants ( Formica ) in the subfamily of scale ants (Formicinae).
features
The body has the red-black coloration typical of wood ants . The back of the head has a wreath of protruding, often long hair and the underside of the head is covered with a number of protruding hairs. The mesosoma is also covered with hair that stands out. The two black spots on the pronotum and mesonotum appear clear, of different sizes, and out of focus. The workers are 4.5 to 9 millimeters long. The stem member ( Petiolus ) has longer hair than that of the slightly bristled mountain ant ( Formica aquilonia ) and the protruding hair on the pronotum is longer than that of the Swiss mountain ant ( Formica paralugubris ). A distinction between these two types is very difficult.
distribution and habitat
The huge range extends over the boreal zone from the British Isles to Kamchatka . In Europe , this ant species is also represented in the mountains, for example in the Pyrenees , the Vosges , in the Massif Central , in the Alps up to 2,400 meters above sea level, in the Carpathian Mountains , in the Bavarian Forest and in the Black Forest . The heavily bristled mountain ant colonizes mixed montane forests and higher subalpine forest types. Unlike the other mountain ants Formica Aquilonia and Formica paralugubris it penetrates to the timberline also in the dwarf pine belt.
Way of life
This ant species forms monogyne to highly polygyne / polydomous states, with the type of colony varying greatly from region to region. The states in Finland are always monogynous and monodomous in the Bernese Alps, but very often polygynous and polydomous. With high population density, this dominant species displaces all other Formica species. The sex animals swarm between mid-May and mid-July. In the case of monogynous nests, the spread mostly takes place via swarms and socially parasitic nesting in Formica lemani . In polygynous nests, the willingness to spread flight decreases. Mating often takes place in or on the nest and the young queens are adopted by the mother's nest.
Web links
- Formica lugubris inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Social Insects Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
- Pictures of Formica lugubris at the German Ant Conservation Center
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dieter Otto: The red wood ants . (3rd, revised and expanded edition.) Westarp Sciences 2005, ISBN 3-89432-718-9 ; 192 pp., 77 ills.
- ↑ a b Bernhard Seifert : The ants of Central and Northern Europe . lutra, Görlitz / Tauer 2007, ISBN 978-3-936412-03-1