Lasius draco

The type series were collected from under a stone and from soil (Collingwood 1982).

Lasius draco
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Lasiini
Genus:	Lasius
Section:	flavus clade
Species group:	umbratus
Species:	L. draco
Binomial name
Lasius draco Collingwood, 1982

Identification

Collingwood (1982): A high mountain species related to L. crinitus but differing in smaller body size, abundant subdecumbent abundant. appendage hairs and straight body hairs. In frontal view the petiole sides slope inwards to a narrow, flattened or feebly emarginate dorsal crest. L. draco is very similar to L. jensi Seifert but has the palpi more slender, the head relatively longer, the tibial pilosity less erect and the gaster hairs longer. It differs from both mikir and crinitus by its abundant appendage pilosity and from L. meridionalis Bond and L. rabaudi Bonds by the strongly convex petiole.

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Bhutan (type locality), India.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Nomenclature

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

• draco. Lasius draco Collingwood, 1982: 294, figs. 9, 22 (w.) BHUTAN.

Description

Worker

Head robust with subparallel sides and straight to feebly emarginate occipital border. Eyes relatively large with maximum diameter twice maximum scape width, Frontal triangle. wider than high. Scape long and thin in the plane of flexion; funiculus segments elongate.

Body colour yellow. Dorsal body pubes cence sparse, especially on gaster which is shining. Gaster hairs numerous, straight, arising from large shallow pits. Eyes with long hairs; long occipital hairs continue as a scat tered fringe of shorter hairs around genal margins. Tibial hairs subdecumbent to sub erect, sparse on front tibiae. Scape hairs

Measurements: Total length 4.0-4.3 mm. EL 0.15-0.17 mm. HL 1.08-1.15 mm. HW 0.95-1.05 mm. SL 1.00-1.01 mm. CI 92-93. SI 96-97, SSC 45-58. Longest hair on gaster dorsum 0.127 mm, maximum width of hind tibia 0.161 mm..

References

• Collingwood, C. A. 1982. Himalayan ants of the genus Lasius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Syst. Entomol. 7: 283-296 (page 294, figs. 9, 22 worker described)
• Dendup, K.C., Dorji, C., Dhadwal, T., Bharti, H., Pfeiffer, M. 2021. A preliminary checklist of ants from Bhutan. Asian Myrmecology 14, e014005 (doi:10.20362/am.014005).
• Liu, C., Fischer, G., Hita Garcia, F., Yamane, S., Liu, Q., Peng, Y.Q., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Pierce, N.E. 2020. Ants of the Hengduan Mountains: a new altitudinal survey and updated checklist for Yunnan Province highlight an understudied insect biodiversity hotspot. ZooKeys 978, 1–171 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.978.55767).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Bharti H. 2011. List of Indian ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Halteres 3: 79-87.
• Collingwood C. A. 1982. Himalayan ants of the genus Lasius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 7: 283-296.
• Fontanilla A. M., A. Nakamura, Z. Xu, M. Cao, R. L. Kitching, Y. Tang, and C. J. Burwell. 2019. Taxonomic and functional ant diversity along tropical, subtropical, and subalpine elevational transects in southwest China. Insects 10, 128; doi:10.3390/insects10050128