Formica exsecta
Formica exsecta | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Formicinae |
Genus: | Formica |
Species: | F. exsecta
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Binomial name | |
Formica exsecta Nylander, 1846
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Formica exsecta (the narrow-headed ant or excised wood ant) is a species of ant found from Western Europe to Asia.
A rare
An interesting feature of F. exsecta is that it occurs in two distinct social forms: either a monogyne form where the colony has a single egg-laying queen, or a polygyne form where many egg-laying queens are part of the same colony.
F. exsecta is placed in the Coptoformica subgenus within the
In
F. exsecta has also been found in forests in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Tibet, and China.
Behavior
Sex allocation
F. exsecta is a
In colonies in which the male offspring are favored, workers tend to execute most of the female
Inbreeding
In monogynous colonies, a significant amount of inbreeding is found. Inbreeding coefficients were found positive for the workers of these colonies. No inbreeding was found between mother queens. Procreation between related individuals of the colony can be further explained by the queen-male relatedness coefficient of 0.23, found by experiments from Liselotte Sundström.[5] Male offspring that were reared in an inbred colony tended to be smaller in mass. Gynes reared in inbred colony display no difference in mass compared to those in noninbred colonies. This result reflects a trade-off between the quantity of offspring and their reproductive potential. Gynes' reproductive success is more dependent on their mass than that of a male.[9]
Fitness and homozygosity
In single-queen colonies, the level of queen homozygosity is negatively associated with colony age.[10] Reduced colony survival appears to be due to reduced queen lifespan resulting from queen homozygosity.
Worker homozygosity appeared to affect reproductive allocation, with higher homozygosity being associated with less resources being allocated to the sexual brood and more to worker production.[10]
Haplodiploidy
F. exsecta, much like other insects in the order
References
- ^ Markó, B.; et al. (2012). "The largest polydomous system of Formica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Europe discovered thus far in Romania" (PDF). North-Western Journal of Zoology. 8: 287–291.
- ^ Erős, K.; et al. (2009). "Sharing versus monopolizing: distribution of aphid sources among nests within a Formica exsecta Nylander (Hymenoptera: formicidae) supercolony" (PDF). Israel Journal of Entomology. 39: 105–127.
- ^ "UK Biodivesrity Action Plan". Archived from the original on 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
- ^ "Narrow-headed Ant". Back from the Brink. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
- ^ S2CID 22960363.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-1416-5.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - PMID 12233773.
- S2CID 19403070.
- PMID 21729057.
- ^ PMID 19127611.
- PMID 16701471.
- .
External links
- Media related to Formica exsecta at Wikimedia Commons