Formica fusca

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iCommon black ant
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Formica
Species: F. fusca
Binomial name
Formica fusca
L., 1758

Formica fusca, the common black ant of Europe, is a palaearctic ant with a range extending from Portugal in the east to Japan in the west and from Italy in the south to Fennoscandia in the north. F. fusca nests are usually found in rotten tree stumps or under stones in clearcut areas and along woodland borders and hedgerows.

Colonies are facultatively polygynous (though weakly so); though the queens coexist amicably, contribution to the brood tends to be unequal. Nests are usually small, containing 500-2000 workers. The workers are large (8-10mm) and fast moving, though timid. F. fusca feeds on small insects, aphid honeydew and extra floral nectaries. Alate forms are produced in June/July and nuptial flights are in July/August.

A recent study (Hannonen & Sundström 2003) has found evidence of nepotism in F. fusca, in contrast with previous experiments with other ant species (Snyder 1993); this conclusion has been challenged, however, on the grounds that the observed pattern may result from differences in egg viability (Fournier et al. 2004).

[edit] References

  • Collingwood CA (1979) The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica, Vol. 8, Scandinavian Science Press, Klampenborg, Denmark.
  • Czechowski, W., Radchenko, A. & Czechowska, W. (2002) The Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Poland (Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)
  • Fournier, D., Aron, S. & Keller, L. (2004) Significant reproductive skew in the facultatively polygynous ant Pheidole pallidula. Molecular Ecology, 13:203-210.
  • Hannonen, M. and Sundström, L. (2003) Worker nepotism among polygynous ants. Nature, 421:910.
  • Snyder, L. (1993) Non-random behavioural interactions among genetic subgroups in a polygynous ant. Animal Behavior, 46:431-439.
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