Lasius reginae

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Lasius reginae
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Lasiini
Genus: Lasius
Section: flavus clade
Species group: carniolicus
Species: L. reginae
Binomial name
Lasius reginae
Faber, 1967

Lasius reginae casent0179907 p 1 high.jpg

Lasius reginae casent0179907 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

This rarely encountered species inhabits open dry forest edges and steppe habitats in eastern Mongolia (Aibek & Yamane, 2010). Nests are in soil with a mound around the entrance. They exhibits temporary social parasitism. Queens found new colonies by infiltrating an established nest of Lasius alienus, Lasius myops (unconfirmed) or Lasius psammophilus (de la Mora et al., 2021; Seifert, 2018), killing the queen and using host workers to care for her initial brood.

At a Glance • Temporary parasite  

Identification

Distribution

Recorded from several European countries, as well as from Turkey and Mongolia (Aibek and Yamane 2010, Borowiec 2014, Lapeva-Gjonova & Borowiec, 2022).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 47.655521° to 37°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Austria (type locality), Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Mongolia, Slovenia, Türkiye.

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

Regional Notes

Borowiec and Salata (2022), for Greece - Noted from luminous mountain mixed and pine forests from an altitude between 1010 and 1480 m. Nests under stones and directly in soil.

Flight Period

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

Source: antkeeping.info.

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Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Lasius reginae casent0280472 p 1 high.jpgLasius reginae casent0280472 h 1 high.jpgLasius reginae casent0280472 d 1 high.jpgLasius reginae casent0280472 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0280472. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by PSWC, Philip S. Ward Collection.

Nomenclature

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

  • reginae. Lasius (Austrolasius) reginae Faber, 1967: 75, figs. 2-6, 8-13, 16-19, 21-23 (w.q.m.) AUSTRIA.

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, gynes very small, not larger than workers. In most characters very similar to L. carniolicus but slightly smaller and less setose. Moderately large, HL 0.809-0.944, HW 0.794-937, ML 0.89-1.06. Scape moderately elongate, SL 0.651-0.746. Color. Whole body including appendages pale yellow. Structure and setation. Head from slightly transverse to slightly longer than wide, sides rounded, occipital margin slightly concave. Eyes small, head length at least 9.5 times the maximum diameter of eye. Whole frontal head covered with short, appressed and moderately dense pubescence, shiny surface well visible. Frontal erected setae short and sparse. Occipital part of head with 12-18 long erected setae. Gena lacking erected setae, underside of head with 8-12 erected setae in upper half of head. Mesosomal dorsum with several long erected setae, length of the longest seta 0.082. Below propodeal spiracle 3-5 erected setae. Masticatory border of mandibles with 6-7 teeth. Antennal scapi with short appressed and in apical half of dorsal surface slightly decumbent pubescence, erected setae absent. Lateral surface of femora and tibiae without or with only few suberect setae. Ventral surface of femora with few erected setae, anterior surface of fore coxa with few short erected setae. Pubescence of mesosoma short and moderately dense, shiny surface well visible, gaster with slightly longer and denser pubescence than mesosoma but microsculpured and shiny surface well visible, first gastral tergite in central part with sparse, short erected setae. Pubescence of clypeus short and sparse, not covering Clypeus. Propodeum in lateral view low and obtuse, metanotal groove moderately deep.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Aibek, U., Yamane, S. 2010. Discovery of the subgenera Austrolasius and Dendrolasius of the ant genus Lasius (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Mongolia. Japanese Journal of Systematic Entomology 16 (2): 197‑202.
  • Bezdecka P. 1996. The ants of Slovakia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomofauna carpathica 8: 108-114.
  • Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
  • Borowiec L., and S. Salata. 2017. Ants of the Peloponnese, Greece (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Polish Journal of Entomology 86: 193-236.
  • Bracko G. 2007. Checklist of the ants of Slovenia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Natura Sloveniae 9: 15-24
  • Czechowski W., A. Radchenko, W. Czechowska and K. Vepsäläinen. 2012. The ants of Poland with reference to the myrmecofauna of Europe. Fauna Poloniae 4. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 1-496 pp
  • Faber W. 1967. Beiträge zur Kenntnis sozialparasitischer Ameisen. I. Lasius (Austrolasius n. sg.) reginae n. sp., eine neue temporär sozialparasitische Erdameise aus Österreich (Hym. Formicidae). Pflanzenschutz Ber. 36: 73-107.
  • Glaser F., A. Freitag, and H. Martz. 2012. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Münstertal (Val Müstair) – a hot spot of regional species richness between Italy and Switzerland. Gredleriana 12: 273 - 284.
  • Kozisek T. 1987. Ants (Formicoidea) of the Abrod State Nature Reserve. Ochrana Prírody 8: 205-208.
  • Maruyama M., F. M. Steiner, C. Stauffer, T. Akino, R. H. Crozier, and B. C. Schlick-Steiner. 2008. A DNA and morphology based phylogenetic framework of the ant genus Lasius with hypotheses for the evolution of social parasitism and fungiculture. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:Article 237 (doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-237).
  • Neumeyer R. 2008. Ergänzungen zur Artenliste der frei lebenden Ameisen (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in der Schweiz. Entomo Helvetica 1: 43-48.
  • Petrov I. Z., and C. A. Collingwood. 1992. Survey of the myrmecofauna (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Yugoslavia. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 44: 79-91.
  • 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.
  • Seifert B. 1998. Rote Liste der Ameisen. - in: M. Binot, R. Bless, P. Boye, H. Gruttke und P. Pretscher: Rote Liste gefährdeter Tiere Deutschlands. Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1998: 130-133.
  • Seifert, B., and A. Buschinger. "On the host species of a temporary parasitic ant, Lasius (Austrolasius) carniolicus Mayr, 1861." Insectes Sociaux 44 (1997): 299-301.
  • 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.
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