Formica yessensis

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Formica yessensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Formicini
Genus: Formica
Species: F. yessensis
Binomial name
Formica yessensis
Wheeler, W.M., 1913

Formica yessensis casent0906318 p 1 high.jpg

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Specimen Labels


Common Name
Ezo-akayama-ari
Language: Japanese

This species builds discrete nests at relatively well insolated places. The mounds are up to 1 m in diameter, and constructed from dead grass or conifer needles. A huge supercolony consisting of 45,000 nests, which extend by budding, is present along the coast of Ishikari Bay, Hokkaido (Higashi & Yamauchi, 1979). Queens are not particularly large when compared to workers, implying that F. yessensis is possibly a temporary social parasite, like Formica fukaii. Reproductive alates fly in August (Ito & Imamura, 1974). Various studies have been carried out on the ecology of this species (Higashi, 1974, 1978a, 1978b; Imamura, 1974, 1978, 1982). The southernmost known locality in Honshu is Mt. Kintoki, Kanagawa Prefecture (Kondoh, 1961). (Japanese Ant Image Database)

At a Glance • Polygynous  • Supercolonies  • Temporary parasite  

Identification

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 43.768425° to 34.78396°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: China, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Japan (type locality), Republic of Korea, Russian Federation.

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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Biology

This species is a temporary parasite for the ant Formica (Serviformica) species (a host) (de la Mora et al., 2021; Ruano et al., 2018). (species of host unknown).

This species is a mutualist for the aphid Tuberculatus quercicola (a trophobiont) (Yao and Akimoto, 2001; Yao and Akimoto, 2009; Saddiqui et al., 2019).

Flight Period

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

Source: Ito & Imamura, 1974. Notes: Japan.

Life History Traits

  • Queen number: polygynous (Rissing and Pollock, 1988; Frumhoff & Ward, 1992)
  • Queen mating frequency: multiple (Rissing and Pollock, 1988; Frumhoff & Ward, 1992)
  • Colony type: supercolony
  • Maximum colony size: 45000
  • Colony founding: dependent
  • Foraging behaviour: trunk trail (Beckers et al., 1989)

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • yessensis. Formica truncicola var. yessensis Wheeler, W.M. 1913f: 391 (in key) (w.) JAPAN. [First available use of Formica rufa r. truncicola var. yessensis Forel, 1901h: 66; unavailable name.] Kupyanskaya, 1984: 103 (q.m.); Imai, 1966: 119 (k.). Subspecies of truncicola: Ruzsky, 1926: 110; of truncorum: Wheeler, W.M. 1933c: 66. Junior synonym of lugubris: Dlussky, 1967a: 91. Revived from synonymy and raised to species: Collingwood, 1976: 304. See also: Kupyanskaya, 1990: 194.

Description

Karyotype

  • n = 26, 2n = 52 (Japan) (Imai, 1966; Imai, 1969).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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