Lasius meridionalis

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Lasius meridionalis
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. meridionalis
Binomial name
Lasius meridionalis
(Bondroit, 1920)

Lasius meridionalis casent0172741 profile 1.jpg

Lasius meridionalis casent0172741 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels


Common Name
Higenaga-ameiro-ke-ari
Language: Japanese

This species is characteristic of lowland sandy heath in North Europe and is found in forests and at forest margins in Japan. Nests are in the ground, often with low earth mounds and carton lined chambers (Europe) or in tree trunks, near the roots of standing trees (Japan). Flight period August in Europe and July to September in Japan. Fertilised queens start colonies through adoption by established nests of Lasius alienus (unconfirmed), Lasius hayashi, Lasius japonicus, Lasius niger (unconfirmed) and Lasius psammophilus (de la Mora et al., 2021; Janda et al., 2004; Seifert, 2018). Males, which have well toothed mandibles, have been seen to pick up objects and to feed themselves (Collingwood, 1979; Japanese Ant Image Database).

At a Glance • Temporary parasite  

Identification

Collingwood (1979) - Clear yellow; pubescence on head rather dilute but close and very fine on gaster. Funiculus segments distinctly longer than wide; scapes and tibiae elliptical in cross section with thin front edge. Petiole sides straight to weakly convex, dorsal margin flat to slightly emarginate. Body and appendage hairs numerous. Length: 3.5-5 mm.

Resembles Lasius umbratus but the different habits, flat appendages and rectangular scale in the queen, shining darker colour and fine sculpture in queen and male clearly distinguish the species from L. umbratus, although workers may be less easy to separate.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Spain to Japan, ltaly to Scandinavia (Collingwood 1979).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 61.2996° to 33.01222222°.

   
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Denmark, Finland, France (type locality), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, 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

Flight Period

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

Source: antkeeping.info.

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

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 ant Lasius fuliginosus (a temporary parasite) (de la Mora et al., 2021; Seifert, 2018) (as Lasius meridionalis x umbratus).

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Lasius meridionalis casent0172711 head 1.jpgLasius meridionalis casent0172711 profile 1.jpgLasius meridionalis casent0172711 profile 2.jpgLasius meridionalis casent0172711 dorsal 1.jpgLasius meridionalis casent0172711 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0172711. 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.

  • meridionalis. Formicina meridionalis Bondroit, 1920a: 143 (q.) FRANCE. Stärcke, 1937: 52 (w.m.). Combination in Lasius: Emery, 1922b: 13; in L. (Chthonolasius): Emery, 1925b: 234. Subspecies of umbratus: Emery, 1922b: 13; Menozzi, 1925d: 34; Stitz, 1939: 295; Novak & Sadil, 1941: 103. Status as species: Stärcke, 1937: 50. Junior synonym of rabaudi: Wilson, 1955a: 168; Bernard, 1967: 364. Revived from synonymy, status as species: Pisarski, 1975: 37; Collingwood, 1979: 102; Seifert, 1988: 154; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 226; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 247.

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

Description

Worker

Borowiec and Salata (2022) - Monomorphic, small to moderately large, HL 0.841-0.952, HW 0.825- 0.921, ML 0.96-1.08. Scape moderately elongate, SL 0.714-0.833. Color. Whole body including appendages pale yellow. Structure and setation. Head slightly longer than wide, sides rounded, occipital margin straight to slightly concave. Eyes very small, head length at least 6.6 times the maximum diameter of eye. Whole frontal head covered with moderately long, appressed and moderately dense pubescence and sparse, long, erected setae, surface well visible, microsculptured but shiny. Occipital part of head with 12-18 long erected setae. Gena and underside of head with numerous erected setae. Mesosomal dorsum with several long erected setae, length of the longest seta 0.135. Below propodeal spiracle1-2 short erected setae. Antennal scapi distinctly flattened, with short appressed and slightly decumbent pubescence and in apical 2/3 length, with suberect hair. Hind tibiae broad and flattened, HTmax/CS up to 0.1449, with 5-40 suberect to erected setae on external surface. Ventral surface of femora with several erected setae, anterior surface of fore coxa with few long erected setae. Pubescence on the whole body and appendages moderately dense and whitish. Pubescence of clypeus sparse, not covering clypeus surface. Surface of gastral tergites with microsculpture but shiny, first gastral tergite on the whole surface with dense, moderately long erected setae. Petiolar scale nearly parallelsided, upper margin with shallow median emargination. Propodeum in lateral view high, slightly conical, metanotal groove deep.

References

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