Leptothorax pacis

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Leptothorax pacis
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Leptothorax
Species: L. pacis
Binomial name
Leptothorax pacis
(Kutter, 1945)

Leptothorax pacis casent0003203 profile 1.jpg

Leptothorax pacis casent0003203 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

This species is a workerless inquiline. Queens live in the nest of a different ant species, have no workers and are entirely dependent on their hosts for food. The queens produce eggs that are cared for and raised to maturity by the host workers.

At a Glance • Workerless Inquiline  

Identification

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 45.3° to 45.3°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Switzerland (type locality).

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

An inquiline ant living within the nests of their host species Leptothorax acervorum, in sticks, pieces of bark and tree stumps in coniferous forests. The species is workerless and apparently host-queen tolerant.

The alate gynes practice female calling outside their natal nest. Mating takes place on the ground, often on top of the nest.

The three species L. pacis, Leptothorax kutteri and Leptothorax goesswaldi all are workerless, permanent parasites of Leptothorax acervorum.

Flight Period

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

Source: antkeeping.info.

Castes

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Leptothorax pacis casent0003204 head 1.jpgLeptothorax pacis casent0003204 profile 1.jpgLeptothorax pacis casent0003204 dorsal 1.jpgLeptothorax pacis casent0003204 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0003204. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Leptothorax pacis casent0003203 profile 2.jpg
Male (alate). Specimen code casent0003203. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • pacis. Doronomyrmex pacis Kutter, 1945: 486, 3 figs. (q.) SWITZERLAND. Kutter, 1950c: 348 (m.). Included in Leptothorax: Heinze, 1998: 195 (combination not stated); combination in Leptothorax: Bolton, 2003: 270. See also: Buschinger, 1972: 169; Kutter, 1977c: 146.

Description

Karyotype

  • n = 26 (France; Switzerland) (Buschinger & Fischer, 1991; Fischer, 1987) (as Doronomyrmex pacis).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • AntArea. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://antarea.fr/fourmi/
  • Antarea (Personal Communication - Rumsais Blatrix- 27 April 2018)
  • Antarea (at www.antarea.fr on June 11th 2017)
  • Blatrix R., C. Lebas, C. Galkowski, P. Wegnez, P. Pimenta, and D. Morichon. 2016. Vegetation cover and elevation drive diversity and composition of ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a Mediterranean ecosystem. – Myrmecological News 22: 119-127.
  • Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
  • Bracko G. 2007. Checklist of the ants of Slovenia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Natura Sloveniae 9: 15-24
  • Buschinger A. 1999. Bemerkenswerte ameisenfunde aus Sudtirol (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecologische Nachrichten 3: 1-8.
  • Buschinger, A., W. Ehrhardt, and K. Fischer. "Doronomyrmex pacis, Epimyrma stumperi und E. goesswaldi (Hym., Formicidae) neu für Frankreich." Insectes Sociaux 28 (1981): 67-70.
  • Casevitz-Weulersse J., and C. Galkowski. 2009. Liste actualisee des Fourmis de France (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 114: 475-510.
  • Dubovikoff D. A., and Z. M. Yusupov. 2018. Family Formicidae - Ants. In Belokobylskij S. A. and A. S. Lelej: Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Proceedingss of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 6: 197-210.
  • Heinze, J. 1995. The Origin of Workerless Parasites in Leptothorax (S. Str.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche 102 (3-4) :195-214
  • Lebas C., C. Galkowski, P. Wegnez, X. Espadaler, and R. Blatrix. 2015. The exceptional diversity of ants on mount Coronat (Pyrénées-Orientales), and Temnothorax gredosi(Hymenoptera, Formicidae) new to France. R.A.R.E., T. XXIV (1): 24 – 33
  • Neumeyer R., and B. Seifert. 2005. Commented check list of free living ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species of Switzerland. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique Suisse 78: 1-17.
  • Seifert B. 1994. Die freilebenden Ameisenarten Deutschlands (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) und Angaben zu deren Taxonomie und Verbreitung. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Görlitz 67(3): 1-44.
  • Steiner F. M., S. Schödl, and B. C. Schlick-Steiner. 2002. Liste der Ameisen Österreichs (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Stand Oktober 2002. Beiträge zur Entomofaunistik 3: 17-25.