Lasius carniolicus

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Lasius carniolicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Lasiini
Genus: Lasius
Section: flavus clade
Species group: carniolicus
Species: L. carniolicus
Binomial name
Lasius carniolicus
Mayr, 1861

Lasius carniolicus casent0280471 p 1 high.jpg

Lasius carniolicus casent0280471 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

This species is a temporary parasite of Lasius alienus, Lasius flavus, Lasius niger, Lasius piliferus and Lasius psammophilus.

At a Glance • Temporary parasite  

Identification

Worker yellow to reddish yellow. Funiculus segments broad; scape oval in section; maxillary palps with segments 5 and 6 subequal, distinctly shorter than 4. Petiole in profile nodal with both anterior and posterior faces convex; in front view with rounded dorsal surface. Sides of head curving forward into close set mandibles; head cordate with rounded occipital corners, posterior margin slightly concave. Body pubescence long and thick, merging into short suberect hairs on all surfaces. Length: 3.5-3.7 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Pyrenees to Siberia, ltaly to Poland and South Sweden, also Afghanistan, Karakorum and Himalayas (Faber, 1967).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 63.509375° to 34.101192°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Pakistan.
Palaearctic Region: Afghanistan, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye.

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

Borowiec and Salata (2022) - Occurs in xerothermous grassland, short-grassy mountain pastures and luminous pine forests. In European mountains ascending to 1650 m but in Pakistan the highest locality was from an altitude of 2600 m (Seifert 2018).

Biology

Nests under stones, often with a flat mound of soil material.

Collingwood (1979) - This species has a wide but scattered occurrence, rather local but sometimes abundant in the restricted areas where it occurs. Nests are found under stones in sandy soil in open dry woodland or pasture. The queens which are no larger than the worker start colonies by adoption in nests of Lasius alienus or Lasius flavus. Flight period September/October. Faber (1967) records extreme physogastry in the mature egg laying queen of the related species Lasius reginae Faber.

Wilson (1955) - This species apparently holds its nuptial flights late in the year, since all of the reproductives recorded so far have been collected in October. Kutter (1946) mentions a nuptial flight which occurred at Lagern, near Zurich, at 4 p.m., October 13.

Flight Period

X X X X X X
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: antkeeping.info.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Lasius carniolicus casent0906074 p 1 high.jpgLasius carniolicus casent0906074 d 1 high.jpgLasius carniolicus casent0906074 h 1 high.jpgLasius carniolicus casent0906074 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0906074. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • carniolicus. Lasius carniolicus Mayr, 1861: 51 (diagnosis in key) (q.) YUGOSLAVIA. Forel, 1886f: 206 (w.m.). Combination in Formicina: Emery, 1916b: 242; in Acanthomyops: Ruzsky, 1925b: 45; in Lasius (Chthonolasius): Ruzsky, 1914a: 59; Müller, 1923: 132; Wilson, 1955a: 189; in L. (Austrolasius): Faber, 1967: 74. Senior synonym of kusnezovi: Wilson, 1955a: 189. See also: Bernard, 1967: 365; Kutter, 1977c: 230; Collingwood, 1982: 292; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 221; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 252.
  • kusnezovi. Lasius (Chthonolasius) carniolicus var. kusnezovi Karavaiev, 1929b: 212, fig. 5 (w.) RUSSIA. Junior synonym of carniolicus: Wilson, 1955a: 189.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Wilson (1955)

(1) Petiole seen from the side thick, with a broadly rounded dorsal crest; in frontal view gently tapering dorsally, the dorsal crest convex and non-emarginate.

(2) Eyes set in shallow circumocular depressions and quite small relative to head size; EL 0.11-0.13 mm.

(3) Mandibles more slender than in other Lasius, with a reduced offset basal tooth as in L. sitkaensis.

(4) The mandibles set closer to the median line than in other Lasius; in frontal view the genal margins (from the anterior borders of the eyes to the mandibular insertions) strongly convex.

(5) Body hairs relatively short and sparse, those on the first three gastric tergites predominantly decumbent. Appendages nearly devoid of pilosity, with only an occasional short decumbent hair along the flexor margins. Body and appendage pubescence dense and predominantly appressed.

(6) Body and appendages medium yellow to very light brownish yellow, the median and posterior areas of the head usually somewhat darker, medium to dark yellowish brown.

(7) Size apparently averaging smaller than in most Chthonolasius; extreme PW range of sample studied 0.53-0.60 mm.

Borowiec and Salata (2022) - Monomorphic, gynes very small, not larger than workers. Moderately large, HL 0.881-0.913, HW 0.865-897, ML 0.96-1.08. Scape moderately elongate, SL 0.714- 0.754. Color. Whole body including appendages pale yellow. Structure and setation. Head from slightly transverse to slightly longer than wide, sides rounded, occipital margin slightly concave. Eyes small, head length at least 9.5 times the maximum diameter of eye. Whole frontal head covered with short, appressed and moderately dense pubescence, shiny surface well visible. Frontal erected setae short and sparse. Occipital part of head with 16-20 moderately long erected setae. Gena lacking erected setae, underside of head with 8-12 erected setae in upper half of head. Mesosomal dorsum with several long erected setae, length of the longest seta 0.088. Below propodeal spiracle 3-5 erected setae. Masticatory border of mandibles with 6-7 teeth. Antennal scapi with short appressed and in apical 2/3 length of dorsal surface slightly decumbent pubescence, erected setae absent. Lateral surface of femora and tibiae with numerous short, suberect to erected setae. Ventral surface of femora with several erected setae, anterior surface of fore coxa with few long erected setae. Pubescence of mesosoma short and dense, shiny surface well visible, gaster with slightly longer and denser pubescence than mesosoma but microsculptured and shiny surface well visible, first gastral tergite in central part with sparse, short erected setae. Pubescence of clypeus short and sparse, not covering Clypeus. Propodeum in lateral view low and obtuse, metanotal groove moderately deep.

Queen

Wilson (1955)

(1) The smallest of all the species of Lasius in this caste, not exceeding in total size the worker caste; HW of 5 specimens examined (from 5 localities) 0.76, 0.77, 0.77, 0.77, 0.78 mm.

(2) Petiole seen from the side shaped like an inverted U: short, thick, and broadly convex dorsally. In frontal view the dorsal crest broadly convex and non-emarginate.

(3) Mandible relatively small, slender, and delicate, subfalcate with a concave masticatory border and prominent long, narrow apical tooth. Dentition reduced to the apical, subapical, first intercalary, and three basal teeth.

(4) Entire body covered with light yellow standing hairs which rarely exceed 0.11 mm. in length. These are unusual in being abundant over the gular surface and around the entire cephalic margin. Shorter hairs, predominantly decumbent-subdecumbent, occur over all surfaces of the femora and tibiae. Body pubescence everywhere dense, long, and predominantly appressed.

(5) Wings hyaline, unlike those of other Chthonolasius, and exceptionally long proportional to the body size (wing length exceeding 4.5 mm.).

(6) Body uniformly medium brown, appendages yellowish brown.

Borowiec and Salata (2022) - body small, only slightly larger than in workers.

Male

Wilson (1955)

(1) Lateral profile of petiole as in worker; in frontal view the dorsal margin is flat to feebly emarginate.

(2) Size small for Chthonolasius; HW of single specimen measured 0.83 mm,

(3) Mandibles with numerous irregular denticles along the entire length of the masticatory border.

(4) Moderately long hairs (not exceeding 0.13 mm. in length) abundant over the entire body, including the gular surface and all of the cephalic margin posterior to the eyes. The hairs of the head and alitrunk predominantly subereet-erect, those on the gaster predominantly decumbent. Scapes and tibiae lacking outstanding pilosity; the femora with fairly numerous short standing hairs.

(5) Subgenital plate of the single male dissected differing from that of other Chthonolasius in having a relatively straight posterior border, the posterolateral corners not projecting posteriorly. The median posterior setiferous area feebly convex and bearing 6 irregularly placed hairs. The cuspis of the volsella unusually thick, its greatest width exceeding the greatest width of the digitus.

Type Material

Wilson (1955) - HOLOTYPE. The unique type is in the Mayr Collection.

References

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