|
Genus Formica - Wood ants, mound ants, & field ants
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Vespoidea (Ants, Stinging Wasps, and Hornets)
Family Formicidae (Ants)
Subfamily Formicinae
Tribe Formicini
Genus Formica (Wood ants, mound ants, & field ants)
Pronunciation Anglicized - for-MY-kuh (preferred), FOR-micka (also heard)
Latin - for-MEE-kah Explanation of Names Formica is the Latin word for "ant", still found in various derivations in the modern languages derived from Latin, e.g., French fourmi, Spanish hormiga, Portuguese formiga, etc. It was first used by Linnaeus for all ants (i.e. equivalent to Formicidae, which now divided up onto 20+ subfamilies and almost 300 genera). Size Workers -- 4-8mm, stretched out, from border of clypeus to tip of abdomen. Some are weakly polymorphic.
Alates -- 5-11mm (males and female about the same length in each species) Identification 4-8 mm workers, conspicuous ocelli, double row of bristles on flexor (ventral) surface of middle and hind tibiae, dorsal surface of propodeal profile as long or longer than the posterior, declivitous face. Range Northern Hemisphere, Warm Temperate to Subarctic Zones.
(Extends into Tropics at high elevations in Mexico, Central America.) Habitat Known as wood (or forest) ants, field ants or mound ants, depending on habitat preference and nesting habits of the various species. Most prefer non-flooded, open woodlands, openings in temperate forest, or grasslands. A few (mostly northern) species are more or less specialists in openings in boreal forests, fens or bogs, riparian areas, and a small number of species live in the full shade of closed canopy deciduous or mixed forests. Nests are built in soil or less often in rotten wood on the ground. The nest may be elevated above the surface as a mound constructed of earth and/or plant fragments. Season Active from the first warm days of spring till frost, but often with an unexplained lull in activity in August. Mating flights late June through early August. Food Predatory with a sweet tooth. Attack and kill or scavenge all manner of arthropods and less often earthworms, and avidly seek honeydew and extrafloral nectar, often foraging high in trees to gather these sweets. Life Cycle Mating flights peak in late June through early July in the South, a little later at high elevations and latitudes. Many or possibly all species in the rufa, microgyna, exsecta & sanguinea groups have dependent colony foundation, effected by mated queens entering a colony of a fusca, neogagates, pallidefulva group species and usurping the resident queen. Colonies are nearly always founded by individual queens in these host groups, but some may form small groups, or re-enter a (probably related) colony of their own species Remarks The fusca, pallidefulva & sanguinea groups have been revised, but the taxonomy is still difficult, as differences among the species are subtle, and often the diagnostic characters are not depicted in images posted at BG. The rufa/microgyna & neogagates groups are much in need of revision, so Creighton (1950) must serve for their identification. See Also Lasius are perhaps most similar and found in the same habitats, differing in their inconspicous or missing ocelli, lack of a pair of longitudinal rows of bristles on the flexor (ventral) surfaces of the middle and hind tibiae, and by the dorsal surface of the propodeum being shorter than the posterior declivitous face. Lasius also differ in their smaller size (2.5-4), small eyes, and reduced palp segmentation of many species.
Myrmecocystus workers are of similar size and coloring to many Formica, but may be recognized by their very elongate maxillary palp, and desert habitat. Camponotus minor workers are in the size range, but have a flat to gently curved mesosomal profile, i.e., propodeal profile continuous with pro-metanotal. |
|
|
|
