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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hymenoptera |
Ants.
Adults minute to medium sized; (1.5–)2–10 mm long. Social insects forming organized communities; the adult populations including specialised, sterile females constituting ‘workers’ (most communities comprising winged males, a deciduously winged or wingless (‘queen’) female, and wingless sterile-female (‘worker’) castes, the latter sometimes represented by two or more specialised forms).
Head. Antennal segments (10–)12 (females), or (10–)13 (males). Antennae geniculate.
Thorax. Thorax black, brown, orange or yellow. Pronotum long, extending back to the tegulae. Cenchri absent. Wings present, or absent (workers). Fore-wings with a conspicuous pterostigma; with the venation well developed (sometimes reduced apically). Closed fore-wing cells 6–10. Hind-wings with closed cells. Hind femur without a well defined trochantellus. Hind tibiae with spurs specialised for a cleaning rôle, or without specialised spurs.
Abdomen. The abdomen with a marked basal constriction; long petiolate. The ‘waist’ with scales or nodes. Visible abdominal segments 6 (females), or 7 (males). The gaster concolorous; black, brown, orange or yellow. Ovipositor of females not visibly protruding; modified as a retractable sting (Myrmicinae), or greatly reduced (the rest, which propel their poison by means of a squirt).
Larvae. Larvae legless or the legs vestigial; socially parasitic on hosts selected by the mother and predacious (some parasitizing other ants), or feeding on prey collected and stored by the adults, or feeding on material manufactured by the adults.
British representation. Species in Britain 50; Anergates, Crematogaster, Formica, Formicoxenus, Hypoponera, Iridomyrmex, Lasius, Leptothorax, Monomorium, Mymecina, Myrmica, Paratrechina, Pheidole, Ponera, Sipholinia, Solenopsis, Stenamma, Strongylognathus, Tapinoma, Tetramorium (Formica, Lasius, Leptothorax and Myrmica being the most strongly represented native genera, with most of the rest representing non-established introductions).
Classification. Suborder Apocrita; Series Aculeata; Superfamily Formicoidea.
Illustrations. • Formica rufa (Red, Hill or Horse Ant, or Pismire): B. Ent. 752. • Formica rufa: B. Ent. 752, legend+text. • Formica rufa: B. Ent. 752, text cont.. • Myrmecina graminicola (Isle of Wight Ant: B. Ent. 265). • Myrmecina graminicola (detail: B. Ent. 265). • Myrmecina graminicola (dissections: B. Ent. 265). • Myrmecina graminicola (generic type description): B. Ent. 265, legend+text. • Myrmecina graminicola: B. Ent. 265, text cont.. • Formica exsecta, F. fusca, F. rufa, F. sanguinea (Saunders II). Formicidae. 1–3, Formica sanguinea: 1, male; 2, female; 3, worker; 3a, clypeus. 4–5, Formica exsecta: 4, female; 5, male; 5a, head of worker. 6–7, Formica fusca: 6, female, its wings shed; 7, worker. 8–9, Formica rufa: 8, clypeus; 9, male armature; 9a, dorsal segment 8 of male, with penicilli. From Saunders (1896). • Lasius alienus, L. fuliginosus, L. mixtus, and Tapinoma (Saunders III). Formicidae. 1, Lasius fuliginosus, worker. 2–4, Lasius alienus: 2, male; 3, female; 4, worker. 5–7, Lasius mixtus: 5, male; 6, female; 7, worker. 8, Tapinoma: abdomen of worker, lateral view. 9, Lasius: abdomen of worker, lateral view. From Saunders (1896). • Formicoxenus, Myrmecina, Ponera, Tapinoma (Saunders IV). Formicidae. 1–2, Tapinoma erraticum: 1, male; 2, worker. 3–4, Ponera coarctata: 3, male; 4, female; 4a, female abdomen, lateral view. 5, Formicoxenus nitudulus: apterus female, and (5a) the abdomen viewed laterally. 6–7, Myrmecina graminicola: 6, male; 7, female; 7a, abdomen viewed laterally. From Saunders (1896). • Leptothorax, Tetramorium (Saunders V). Formicidae. 1–3, Tetramorium caespitum: 1, male; 1a, antenna of male; 2, female; 3, worker; 3a, clypeus, etc., of worker. 4–6, Leptothorax acervorum: 4, male; 5, female; 6, worker. 7, Leptothorax nylanderi, worker. From Saunders (1896). • Myrmeca, Solenopsis, Stenamma (Saunders VI). Formicidae. 1–2, Stenamma westwoodi: 1, male; 2, worker. 3–5, Myrmica ruginodis: 3, male; 3a, scape of male antenna; 4, female; 5, worker. 6–7, Myrmica scabrinodis: 6, male; 7, scape of male antenna. 8, Myrmica lobicornis, scape of male antenna. 9, Solenopsis fugax, worker. From Saunders (1896). • Ponera coarctata: as P. contracta, Stephens 1846.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hymenoptera. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
