Temporary Parasitism

Temporary social parasites establish new colonies with the assistance of a host species. A queen of the parasite enters the nest of the host and chemically tricks the host workers into adopting her. The intruding queen kills or drives off the host queen and begins to lay her own eggs. Host workers remain in the colony and tend both their own eggs and the eggs of the new queen. Over time the host workers are replaced with workers from the new queen and the colony becomes completely populated by the new queen's offspring.

See Lasius umbratus and Colony Founding in Polyrhachis lamellidens for details on the natural history of temporarily parasitic ants.

Known Temporary Parasites

Temporary Parasite	Host	Locality	Source	Notes
Aphaenogaster tennesseensis	Aphaenogaster fulva
Aphaenogaster tennesseensis	Aphaenogaster picea
Aphaenogaster tennesseensis	Aphaenogaster rudis
Dorymyrmex smithi	Dorymyrmex insanus
Formica adamsi	Formica neorufibarbis
Formica bruni	unknown
Formica dakotensis	Formica fusca
Formica dakotensis	Formica lepida
Formica dakotensis	Formica montana
Formica dakotensis	Formica pallidefulva
Formica dakotensis	Formica subsericea
Formica difficilis	Formica incerta
Formica dirksi	Formica subaenescens
Formica exsecta	Formica fusca
Formica exsecta	Formica lemani
Formica fennica	unknown
Formica foreli	unkown			primary host likely to be ''F. fusca'', ''F. cunicularia'' or ''F. rufibarbis''
Formica forsslundi	Formica transkaucasica
Formica fukaii	Formica japonica		Kubota & Kondoh, 1954; Hayashida, 1963
Formica fukaii	Formica lemani		Yamaoka, 1977
Formica indianensis	unknown
Formica knighti	Formica subsericea			needs confirmation
Formica manchu	unknown
Formica mesasiatica	unknown
Formica microgyna	Formica argentea		Gregg, 1963; Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Formica microgyna	Formica fusca		Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Formica microgyna	Formica lasioides		Gregg, 1963; Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Formica microgyna	Formica neogagates		Gregg, 1963; Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Formica morsei	unknown
Formica nepticula	unknown
Formica nevadensis	unknown
Formica obscuripes	Formica pacifica
Formica pisarskii	unknown
Formica postoculata	unknown
Formica pressilabris	Formica lemani
Formica querquetulana	Formica fusca
Formica rufa	Formica fusca
Formica scitula	unknown
Formica spatulata	unknown
Formica suecica	Formica fusca			needs confirmation
Formica suecica	Formica lemani
Formica suecica	Formica transkaucasica
Formica ulkei	Formica fusca
Formica uralensis	Formica transkaucasica
Lasius arizonicus	unknown
Lasius bicornis	unknown
Lasius californicus	unknown
Lasius carniolicus	Lasius alienus
Lasius carniolicus	Lasius flavus
Lasius carniolicus	Lasius piliferus
Lasius citrinus	Lasius brunneus
Lasius citrinus	Lasius niger			needs confirmation
Lasius claviger	Lasius americanus
Lasius claviger	Lasius neoniger
Lasius coloradensis	unknown
Lasius distinguendus	Lasius alienus
Lasius fuliginosus	Lasius alienus
Lasius fuliginosus	Lasius brunneus
Lasius fuliginosus	Lasius mixtus
Lasius fuliginosus	Lasius niger
Lasius fuliginosus	Lasius rabaudi
Lasius fuliginosus	Lasius umbratus
Lasius interjectus	unknown
Lasius jensi	Lasius alienus
Lasius latipes	Lasius americanus		Ellison et al., 2012; Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Lasius latipes	Lasius crypticus		Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Lasius latipes	Lasius interjectus		Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Lasius latipes	Lasius neoniger		Ellison et al., 2012; Mackay & Mackay, 2002
Lasius meridionalis	Lasius alienus	Europe	Collingwood, 1979
Lasius meridionalis	Lasius hayashi	Japan	Japanese Ant Image Database	needs confirmation
Lasius meridionalis	Lasius japonicus	Japan	Japanese Ant Image Database	needs confirmation
Lasius meridionalis	Lasius niger	Europe	Collingwood, 1979
Lasius meridionalis	Lasius psammophilus	Europe	Collingwood, 1979
Lasius mexicanus	unknown
Lasius minutus	Lasius americanus		Ellison et al., 2012
Lasius minutus	Lasius pallitarsis		Ellison et al., 2012
Lasius mixtus	Lasius alienus		Collingwood, 1979
Lasius mixtus	Lasius niger		Collingwood, 1979
Lasius murphyi	Lasius neoniger
Lasius occidentalis	unknown
Lasius orientalis	Lasius flavus
Lasius plumopilosus	Lasius claviger		Ellison et al., 2012
Lasius pogonogynus	unknown
Lasius pubescens	unknown
Lasius rabaudi	Lasius niger
Lasius reginae	Lasius alienus
Lasius reginae	Lasius myops
Lasius sabularum	Lasius niger
Lasius spathepus	Lasius japonicus		Japanese Ant Image Database	needs confirmation
Lasius speculiventris	Lasius minutus		Ellison et al., 2012
Lasius subglaber	unknown
Lasius subumbratus	Lasius neoniger
Lasius subumbratus	Lasius pallitarsis
Lasius umbratus	Lasius alienus
Lasius umbratus	Lasius brunneus
Lasius umbratus	Lasius emarginatus
Lasius umbratus	Lasius neoniger
Lasius umbratus	Lasius niger
Lasius umbratus	Lasius pallitarsis
Lasius umbratus	Lasius psammophilus
Myrmica bibikoffi	Myrmica sabuleti		Radchenko & Elmes, 2003
Myrmica semiparasitica	Myrmica punctiventris
Polyrhachis lamellidens	Camponotus japonicus		Kohriba, 1963
Polyrhachis lamellidens	Camponotus kiusiuensis		Sakai, 1990	Needs confirmation
Polyrhachis lamellidens	Camponotus obscuripes		Sakai, 1990
Pseudomyrmex seminole	Pseudomyrmex pallidus		Ward, 1985
Rossomyrmex proformicarum	unknown
Strongylognathus afer	unknown
Strongylognathus minutus	unknown
Strongylognathus pisarskii	unknown
Strongylognathus potanini	unknown
Strongylognathus tylonus	unknown