Myrmica laurae
| Myrmica laurae | |
|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Myrmicini |
| Genus: | Myrmica |
| Species: | M. laurae |
| Binomial name | |
| Myrmica laurae (Emery, 1907)
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| Synonyms | |
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When Emery (1907) described S. laurae it was presumed to be a social parasite though its host was unknown. Mei (1987) identified the host of M. samnitica as M. sabuleti. However, in the non-type series Mei collected from Abruzzo and Lazio, the specimens mounted with them as hosts were M. scabrinodis. The worker specimens of these M. scabrinodis have relatively large scape lobes and could easily be mistaken for M. sabuleti, alternatively it is quite possible that M. laurae could use several different host species as does M. karavajevi. No workers have been found. One parasitized host nest found at altitude 1400m, living under a stone, in a shaded clearing in a Pinus nigra wood. (Radchenko and Elmes 2003)
| At a Glance | • Workerless Inquiline |
Contents
Identification
A member of the laurae group. M. laurae well differs from most other socially parasitic Myrmica species by combination of the following features: eyes in both sexes with conspicuous hairs, length of the longest hairs 0.035 (queens) - 0.040 mm (males); generally a very hairy species; cubital cell on forewings closed and not partly separated by short vein; males with 12-jointed antennae, antennal scape long and slender, feebly curved at the base; antennal scape of queen not angulate, gradually curved at the base, but with distinct narrow longitudinal ridge. (Radchenko and Elmes 2003)
Key to Parasitic Myrmica of West Europe and North Africa Queens / Males
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Italy (type locality).
Distribution based on AntMaps
Distribution based on AntWeb specimens
Check data from AntWeb
Biology
Castes
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's New General Catalogue, a catalogue of the world's ants.
- laurae. Sifolinia laurae Emery, 1907: 49, figs. (q.) ITALY. Combination in Myrmica: Bolton, 1988a: 4. Senior synonym of samnitica: Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 224. See also: Emery, 1908f: 550; Kutter, 1973c: 256; Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 181.
- samnitica. Myrmica samnitica Mei, 1987: 457, figs. 1-15 (q.m.) ITALY. Junior synonym of laurae: Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 224.
Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.
Description
Queen
Radchenko and Elmes (2003) - (n= 14, data of holotype are in brackets): HL 0.95-1.09 (1.03); HW 0.87-1.05 (0.98); SL 0.68-0.79 (0.75); AL 1.50-1.85 (1.76) mm; FI 0.41-0.49 (0.49); FLI 1.05-1.17 (1.10); SI1 0.70-0.75 (0.73); SI2 0.74-0.80 (0.77); PPI 0.62-0.69 (postpetole lost); ESLI 0.35-0.41 (0.41); males (n=6): HL 0.76-0.82; HW 0.77-0.84; SL 0.60-0.67; AL 1.50-1.96 mm; SI1 0.76-0.79; S12 0.78-0.80; PPI 0.70-0.75; ESLI 0.23-0.35.
Etymology
Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - this species was dedicated to Laura Coggi, the baby daughter of Prof. Alessandro Coggi of Siena, who collected and gave the type specimen to Emery.
References
- Bolton, B. 1988a. A new socially parasitic Myrmica, with a reassessment of the genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Syst. Entomol. 13: 1-11 (page 4, Combination in Myrmica)
- Emery, C. 1907. Una formica nuova italiana spettante ad un nuovo genere. Rend. Sess. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna (n.s.) 11: 49-51 (page 49, figs. queen described)
- Emery, C. 1908g. Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil IV. Parasitische und Gast-Myrmicinen mit Ausnahme von Strongylognathus. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1908: 549-558 (page 550, see also)
- Kutter, H. 1973d. Über die morphologischen Beziehungen der Gattung Myrmica zu ihren Satellitengenera Sifolinia Em., Symbiomyrma Arnoldi und Sommimyrma Menozzi (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 46: 253-268 (page 256, see also)
- Radchenko, A. G.; Elmes, G. W. 2003a. A taxonomic revision of the socially parasitic Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Palaearctic region. Ann. Zool. (Warsaw) 53: 217-243 (page 224, Senior synonym of samnitica)
- Radchenko, A.G. & Elmes, G.W. 2010. Myrmica ants of the Old World. Fauna Mundi 3: 1-789.
