Lasius psammophilus

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Lasius psammophilus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Lasiini
Genus: Lasius
Section: niger clade
Species group: alienus
Species complex: obscuratus
Species: L. psammophilus
Binomial name
Lasius psammophilus
Seifert, 1992

Lasius psammophilus casent0172733 profile 1.jpg

Lasius psammophilus casent0172733 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

In Russia this species shows a strong preference for sandy soils in dry pine forests and similar habitats. Nests lack mounds (Zryanin & Zryanina, 2007).

Photo Gallery

  • Lasius psammophilus is relatively common in Italy in areas of sandy soil. Photo by Elia Nalini.

Identification

Palaearctic Lasius s. str. species belonging to the Lasius obscuratus species complex.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Seifert (2020) - European, temperate-submeridional. From British Isles and France across Central and East Europe. Rapid postglacial immigration into North Central Europe via sand dunes and the outwash plains of big ancient river valleys is highly probable. In Central Europe and S Fennoscandia most abundant in sandy regions of the planar and colline zone but penetrating also mountain areas along river valleys: in the S Schwarzwald ascending to 1000 m and in the Alps to 2030 m (in S Tyrol at 46.5°N). Competing with Lasius paralienus in the High Apennine grasslands. Absent from Iberia and probably also the S Balkans, in N Greece at 40°N between 1600 and 1900 m. Main border of northern distribution in Sweden and Finland at 63.5°N but ranging north to 65.8° along the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. Sympatric occurrence with Lasius obscuratus in Asia Minor and Great Caucasus, here easternmost known site at 52.52°N, 44.94°E. Sympatric occurrence with Lasius piliferus occurs in the Pyrenees.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 64.4559° to 35.01667°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany (type locality), Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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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Biology

Association with Other Organisms

Explore-icon.png Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

This species is a host for the temporary parasites Lasius carniolicus, Lasius meridionalis, Lasius reginae and Lasius umbratus (unconfirmed).

Flight Period

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

Source: antkeeping.info.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Lasius psammophilus casent0172733 head 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172733 profile 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172733 dorsal 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172733 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0172733. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Lasius psammophilus casent0172728 head 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172728 profile 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172728 dorsal 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172728 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0172728. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Lasius psammophilus casent0172734 head 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172734 profile 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172734 profile 2.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172734 dorsal 1.jpgLasius psammophilus casent0172734 label 1.jpg
Male (alate). Specimen code casent0172734. Photographer April Nobile, 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.

  • psammophilus. Lasius (Lasius) psammophilus Seifert, 1992b: 15, figs. 4, 6, 11 (w.q.) GERMANY.

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

Description

Worker

Seifert (2020) - Absolute size rather small (CS 826 µm). Scape and head length indices and number of mandibular dents medium (SL/CS900 0.960, CL/CW900 1.057, MaDe900 8.3). Clypeal pubescence rather dilute (sqPDCL900 4.56). Pronotal setae of medium length (PnHL/CS900 0.146), significantly longer than gular setae (GuHL/CS900 0.097). Dorsum of scape and extensor profile of hind tibia without or only few semierect setae. It differs from the eastern sister species Lasius obscuratus by the shorter terminal segment of maxillary palps(MP6/CS900 0.145 vs. 0.173) and from the western sister species Lasius piliferus by longer scape (SL/ CS900 0.960 vs. 0.929), larger eye (EYE/CS900 0.238 vs. 0.220) and lower seta numbers. Coloration: head brown, mesosoma a little lighter brown with a yellowish tinge, gaster dark brown; petiole, coxae and femora yellowish brown; mandibles and anterior clypeal border yellowish-reddish, scape yellowish.

See table 3 in Seifert 2020 for additional morphometrics. The abbreviated names of various quantitative data shown above are defined here: Seifert 2020 Lasius characters.

Type Material

Seifert (2020) - Holotype plus 4 paratype workers labelled “GER: Kr. Weißwasser 4 km N Steinbach: N 135 30.7.1991, leg. Seifert“; 26 paratype workers from the same locality and date labelling but with nest 082, sample numbers N 005, N 023, N 027, N 029, N 048, N N 206, N 215; depository Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz.

References

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