Formica
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Formica | |
---|---|
Formica rufa | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Formicinae |
Tribe: | Formicini |
Genus: | Formica Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Formica rufa[1] | |
Diversity[2] | |
234 species | |
Synonyms | |
Adformica Lomnicki, 1925 |
Formica is a
Habitat
As the name wood ant implies, many Formica species live in wooded areas where no shortage of material exists with which they can thatch their mounds (often called anthills
In more suburban landscapes, they tend to nest near structures such as sidewalks, fences, or building foundations.[4]
Nests
Mound-building, forest-dwelling Formica species groups such as F. rufa often have a considerable effect on their environments. They maintain large populations of aphids on the secretions of which they feed, and which the ants defend from other predators. They also prey on other insects. In fact, in many countries, they are introduced in forests to control tree pests, such as swains jack pine sawfly and eastern tent caterpillars in North America. The effects of mound-building grassland species such as F. montana are not well-studied, but their local abundance, conspicuous mound-building, and very frequent association with aphids and membracids point to a comparably important ecological role.[citation needed]
Formica nests are of many different types from simple shaft-and-chamber excavations in soil with a small crater or turret of soil above to large mounds, under stones or logs, or in stumps. None is arboreal. The genus is abundant in both the
Most Formica species are
Wood ants typically secrete formic acid; F. rufa can squirt the acid from its acidopore several feet if alarmed, a habit which may have given rise to the archaic term for ant, "pismire", and by analogy its American equivalent "piss-ant". They can be relatively large; F. rufa workers can reach a maximum length around 10 mm. The eastern US species F. dolosa and the western F. ravida (syn. F. haemorrhoidalis) may be slightly longer.[citation needed]
Social characteristics
Ants are eusocial organisms – the individuals of the species work together to survive, produce the next generation, and accomplish tasks which cannot be accomplished alone.[9] Unlike other ants, the genus Formica does not have separate castes, which are based on an individual's specialization and morphology. For example, F. selysi, a species native to floodplains, has developed a method to deal with flooding. Individual ants come together to form a living raft to survive the flood. Individual ants tend to take the position in the raft which they held in the past. This return to the same role in the raft is an example of specialization.[9]
Social parasitism
Formica ants are notable for their socially parasitic behaviors. The three categories are:[10]
- In the F. exsecta and F. rufa-microgyna groups, virgin queens cannot start colonies on their own, but invade colonies of other groups and by various processes eventually oust the host queen and have the host workers help them raise their own brood. Eventually, the colony consists of only the invading queen's offspring. This is called temporary social parasitism.[citation needed]
- In the F. sanguinea group, colonies are started as above, but in some species, workers raid colonies of other groups for new workers to act as a work force. F. sanguinea performs this behavior.[11][unreliable source?]
Some species of this group need to do this to survive, for others it is optional.[citation needed]
- The F. pallidefulva, F. neogagates, and F. fusca groups are those most often parasitized by the above groups. They are also captured as workforce by ants of the genus Polyergus. The evolution of this behavior is believed ultimately to have been derived from the common habit of many Formica species of adopting recently mated queens into established colonies. Indeed, in many of the socially parasitic species that do not raid other species, this "secondary polygyny" is common.[citation needed]
Species
As of 2018[update], Formica contains at least 290 extant species and 59 extinct species.[2][12]
Species include:[13]
- Formica aquilonia Yarrow, 1955
- †Formica biamoensis Dlussky, Rasnitsyn & Perfilieva, 2015[14]
- Formica cinerea Mayr, 1853
- Formica creightoni Buren, 1968
- Formica cunicularia Latreille, 1798
- Formica dirksi
- Formica exsecta Nylander
- Formica exsectoides
- Formica fusca Linnaeus, 1758 (F. (Serviformica) fusca)
- Formica gagatoides Ruzsky, 1904
- Formica incerta Emery, 1893
- Formica japonica Motschoulsky, 1866
- Formica lemani Bondroit
- Formica lugubris Zetterstedt, 1838
- Formica obscuripes Forel, 1886
- Formica pacifica
- †Formica paleosibirica Dlussky, Rasnitsyn & Perfilieva, 2015[14]
- Formica pallidefulva Latreille, 1802
- Formica podzolica
- Formica polyctena
- Formica pratensis Retzius
- Formica rufa Linnaeus, 1761
- Formica rufibarbis Fabricius, 1793
- Formica sanguinea
- Formica subintegra Wheeler, 1908
- Formica subsericea
- Formica talbotae Wilson, 1977
- Formica transkaucasica Nasonov
- Formica truncorum Fabricius, 1804
- Formica uralensis Ruzsky, 1895
References
- ^ a b "Genus: Formica". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ^ a b Bolton, B. (2016). "Formica". AntCat. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- ^ "Family: Formicidae". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ^ a b "Field Ant Facts". Orkin. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
- ^ "Formica Ant". www.insectidentification.org. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
- ^ "Anthill".
- ^ Klotz, 2008: p. 33
- ^ Helantera, Heikki, and Liselotte Sundström. “Worker Reproduction in Formica Ants.” The American Naturalist , Vol. 170, No. 1 (July 2007).
- ^ S2CID 17142619.
- ^ Marek L. Borowiec et. al. "The evolution of social parasitism in Formica ants revealed by a global phylogeny", https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.17.423324v1.full.pdf
- Origin of Species, in Chapter VIII. Instinct
- ^ "Browse Formica". Catalogue of Life. Archived from the original on 2019-11-15. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
- ^ Formica species list. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
- ^ .
Further reading
- Klotz, J. H. (2008). "Formicinae". Urban ants of North America and Europe: identification, biology, and management. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7473-6.
External links
- Media related to Formica at Wikimedia Commons