Lasius fuliginosus
| Lasius fuliginosus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Lasius fuliginosus worker | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Formicinae |
| Genus: | Lasius |
| Species: | L. fuliginosus |
| Binomial name | |
| Lasius fuliginosus (Latreille, 1798) | |
Lasius fuliginosus is a species of ant in the subfamily Formicinae. Workers have a black shiny colour and a length of about 4–6 mm, females are larger (6–6.5 mm) and small males reach a length of 4.5–5 mm).[1] The head is heart-shaped.
Distribution
The species has a wide distribution in Europe and Asia, from Portugal and Ireland in the west, Finland in the north to Italy in the south, and eastwards to Korea and Japan.[1][2]
Environment
The species builds a "cardboard" nest in old hollow trees, using "board" – a mixture of chewed wood with saliva. They tend populations of aphids for their honeydew. Adults of the family can have multiple queens.
New post-nuptial queens of the species establish nests through social parasitism in other species of its genus. They invade a nest of the other species, kill or oust the existing queen, and lay eggs, which the existing workers tend. Her offspring workers slowly take over the nest.
References
- 1 2 Collingwood, C. A. (1979). "The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark" (PDF). Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 8: 1–174.
- ↑ Collingwood, C. A. (1982). "Himalayan ants of the genus Lasius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)" (PDF). Systematic Entomology 7: 283–296.
External links
Media related to Lasius fuliginosus at Wikimedia Commons