Formica laeviceps

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Formica laeviceps
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Formicini
Genus: Formica
Species group: rufa
Species: F. laeviceps
Binomial name
Formica laeviceps
Creighton, 1940

Formica laeviceps casent0103372 profile 1.jpg

Formica laeviceps casent0103372 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

This ant nests under stones, and occurs in areas with sandy soils and interspersed stones. Foragers were collected on Yucca sp. stalks, tending aphids, on a sunny, east-facing slope.

Identification

Workers lacking erect hairs on the scape (except at apex) and with few erect hairs on the mid and hind tibiae, except for a double row of bristles, each with up to 10 hairs, which extend the entire length of the tibia. The tentorial pits are very deep and pit-like, making the middle part of the clypeus rise up as a rectangle. The species name suggests that the head is smooth, but it is predominantly rough and only slightly smoother than the average member of the rufa group. (Mackay and Mackay 2002)

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Western Unites States.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 46.2° to 34.156971°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Habitat

Mackay and Mackay (2002) - Semiarid sites, grasslands, pinyon-juniper forests, up into mixed conifer habitats (Fagerlund, pers. comm.).

Biology

Nevada, Wheeler and Wheeler (1986) - We have 8 records from 7 localities; 4,200-7,100 ft. One was in the Coniferous Forest Biome and 1 in the Cool Desert. Only 1 nest was described: in an asymmetrical thatch mound 86 x 107 cm in diameter and 56 cm in height. Workers from a Battle Mt. nest were tending Zyxaphis lililolia Gill. & Palmer (Homoptera: Aphididae; det. D. Hille Ris Lambers) on Artemisia tridentata.

Nest site selected in areas of moderate to sparse cover. Nest begun under log or stone with many of the passages running into the soil. Moderate use made of thatching, often little of this visible on the outside of the nest. Large domes or heaps of thatching rarely produced (Creighton, 1940).

Castes

Worker

MCZ-ENT00019764 Formica rufa subsp laeviceps hef.jpgMCZ-ENT00019764 Formica rufa subsp laeviceps hal.jpgMCZ-ENT00019764 Formica rufa subsp laeviceps had.jpgMCZ-ENT00019764 Formica rufa subsp laeviceps lbs.jpg
. Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.


Images from AntWeb

Formica laeviceps casent0105750 head 1.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0105750 profile 1.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0105750 dorsal 1.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0105750 label 1.jpg
Paratype of Formica laevicepsWorker. Specimen code casent0105750. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by USNM, Washington, DC, USA.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Formica laeviceps casent0103373 head 1.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0103373 profile 1.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0103373 profile 2.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0103373 dorsal 1.jpgFormica laeviceps casent0103373 label 1.jpg
Paratype of Formica laevicepsQueen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0103373. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by USNM, Washington, DC, USA.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • laeviceps. Formica rufa subsp. laeviceps Creighton, 1940a: 9, fig. 1 (w.q.) U.S.A. Raised to species: Creighton, 1950a: 491.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Allred D. M. 1982. Ants of Utah. The Great Basin Naturalist 42: 415-511.
  • Allred, D.M. 1982. The ants of Utah. Great Basin Naturalist 42:415-511.
  • Gregg, R.T. 1963. The Ants of Colorado.
  • Mackay W. P., and E. E. Mackay. 2002. The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 400 pp.
  • Wheeler G. C., and J. Wheeler. 1986. The ants of Nevada. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, vii + 138 pp.
  • Wheeler G. C., and J. Wheeler. 1987. A Checklist of the Ants of South Dakota. Prairie Nat. 19(3): 199-208.
  • Wheeler, G.C. and J. Wheeler. 1988. A checklist of the ants of Montana. Psyche 95:101-114