Myrmica laurae

Myrmica laurae
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Myrmicini
Genus:	Myrmica
Species:	M. laurae
Binomial name
Myrmica laurae (Emery, 1907) Specimen Label
Synonyms
Myrmica samnitica Mei, 1987

This species is a social parasite in the nests of Myrmica scabrinodis and Myrmica spinosior and possibly Myrmica sabuleti (the identity of the latter host is currently uncertain). It is apparently workerless as no workers have yet been found. One parasitized host nest found at an altitude of 1400m, living under a stone, in a shaded clearing in a Pinus nigra wood. (Radchenko and Elmes 2003)

At a Glance

• Workerless Inquiline

Identification

A member of the laurae group. M. laurae well differs from most other socially parasitic Myrmica species by combination of the following features: eyes in both sexes with conspicuous hairs, length of the longest hairs 0.035 (queens) - 0.040 mm (males); generally a very hairy species; cubital cell on forewings closed and not partly separated by short vein; males with 12-jointed antennae, antennal scape long and slender, feebly curved at the base; antennal scape of queen not angulate, gradually curved at the base, but with distinct narrow longitudinal ridge. (Radchenko and Elmes 2003)

• 

  Garcia et al. (2024), Figure 8. Scapes in dorsofrontal view of: (8A) M. laurae, antweb specimen CASENT0904098; (8B) M. babiensis.

Garcia et al. (2024), Table 1. Biometric measurements and indexes following Radchenko and Elmes (2010) of M. babiensis, M. aloba (own data, in microns, mean ± standard deviation (minimum; maximum)) and other big sized parasitic Myrmica gynes (minimum–maximum, data taken from Radchenko and Elmes, 2003).

Species	Myrmica babiensis n=19	Myrmica aloba n=14	Myrmica laurae n=14	Myrmica bibikoffi n=2	Myrmica hirsuta n=36	Myrmica myrmicoxena n=6
HL	1155.5 ± 34.9 (1078; 1212)	1321.8 ± 28 (1278; 1361)	950–1090	1240–1400	1000–1180	1020–1050
HW	1070.6 ± 37.3 (979; 1137)	1185.1 ± 32.9 (1145; 1228)	870–1050	1220–1340	880–1100	940–970
SL	753.1 ± 25 (712; 792)	942.8 ± 26.1 (888; 988)	680–790	960–1000	720–880	670–700
AL	1802.6 ± 70.1 (1650; 1925)	2015.4 ± 67.8 (1925; 2131)	1500–1850	2140	1620–2000	1520–1580
HL/HW	1.077 ± 0.034 (1.033; 1.186)	0.993 ± 0.021 (0.962; 1.025)	-	-	-	-
FW/HW	0.457 ± 0.022 (0.429; 0.516)	0.349 ± 0.015 (0.326; 0.376)	0.41–0.49	0.35–0.39	0.39–0.46	0.45–0.46
FLW/FW	1.059 ± 0.015 (1.033; 1.091)	1.216 ± 0.042 (1.144; 1.274)	1.05–1.17	1.26–1.37	1.10–1.30	1.16–1.21
SL/HL	0.652 ± 0.025 (0.605; 0.690)	0.713 ± 0.021 (0.677; 0.754)	0.70–0.75	0.71–0.77	0.68–0.81	0.65–0.66
SL/HW	0.703 ± 0.024 (0.660; 0.746)	0.708 ± 0.022 (0.669; 0.747)	0.74–0.80	0.79–0.80	0.73–0.84	0.71–0.72
PL/PH	1.006 ± 0.066 (0.870; 1.110)	1.294 ± 0.069 (1.208; 1.421)	-	-	-	-
PPW/HW	0.759 ± 0.043 (0.700; 0.888)	0.462 ± 0.019 (0.434; 0.497)	0.62–0.69	0.60–0.61	0.57–0.72	0.56–0.57
ESL/HW	0.321 ± 0.0367 (0.258; 0.382)	0.286 ± 0.012 (0.259; 0.301)	0.35–0.41	0.30–0.35	0.24–0.36	0.18–0.23
ESD/ESL	1.977 ± 0.203 (1.594; 2.314)	1.471 ± 0.073 (1.341; 1.559)	-	-	-	-

Keys including this Species

• Key to European parasitic Myrmica queens
• Key to Myrmica of West Europe and North Africa

See also the key to parasitic Myrmica of West Europe and North Africa based on queens and males.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 42.133333° to 42.13306°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Italy (type locality).

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.

Biology

When Emery (1907) described M. laurae it was presumed to be a social parasite though its host was unknown. Mei (1987) identified the host of M. samnitica (a junior synonym of M. laurae) as Myrmica sabuleti. However, in the non-type series Mei collected from Abruzzo and Lazio, the specimens mounted with them as hosts were Myrmica scabrinodis. The worker specimens of these M. scabrinodis have relatively large scape lobes and could easily be mistaken for M. sabuleti, or alternatively, it is quite possible that M. laurae could use several different host species, as does Myrmica karavajevi, as it is also known to parasitise Myrmica spinosior.

Nomenclature

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

• laurae. Sifolinia laurae Emery, 1907: 49, figs. (q.) ITALY. Combination in Myrmica: Bolton, 1988a: 4. Senior synonym of samnitica: Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 224. See also: Emery, 1908f: 550; Kutter, 1973c: 256; Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 181.
• samnitica. Myrmica samnitica Mei, 1987: 457, figs. 1-15 (q.m.) ITALY. Junior synonym of laurae: Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 224.

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

Description

Queen

Radchenko and Elmes (2003) - (n= 14, data of holotype are in brackets): HL 0.95-1.09 (1.03); HW 0.87-1.05 (0.98); SL 0.68-0.79 (0.75); AL 1.50-1.85 (1.76) mm; FI 0.41-0.49 (0.49); FLI 1.05-1.17 (1.10); SI1 0.70-0.75 (0.73); SI2 0.74-0.80 (0.77); PPI 0.62-0.69 (postpetole lost); ESLI 0.35-0.41 (0.41); males (n=6): HL 0.76-0.82; HW 0.77-0.84; SL 0.60-0.67; AL 1.50-1.96 mm; SI1 0.76-0.79; S12 0.78-0.80; PPI 0.70-0.75; ESLI 0.23-0.35.

Etymology

Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - this species was dedicated to Laura Coggi, the baby daughter of Prof. Alessandro Coggi of Siena, who collected and gave the type specimen to Emery.

References

• Bolton, B. 1988a. A new socially parasitic Myrmica, with a reassessment of the genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Syst. Entomol. 13: 1-11 (page 4, Combination in Myrmica)
• Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Emery, C. 1907. Una formica nuova italiana spettante ad un nuovo genere. Rend. Sess. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna (n.s.) 11: 49-51 (page 49, figs. queen described)
• Emery, C. 1908g. Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil IV. Parasitische und Gast-Myrmicinen mit Ausnahme von Strongylognathus. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1908: 549-558 (page 550, see also)
• García, F., Cuesta-Segura, A.D., Espadaler, X. 2024. Myrmica babiensis sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a new social parasite from the NW Iberian Peninsula. Annales Zoologici 74(1), 113-127 (doi:10.3161/00034541anz2024.74.1.006).
• Jansen, G., Savolainen, R., Vepsäläinen, K. 2010. Phylogeny, divergence-time estimation, biogeography and social parasite–host relationships of the Holarctic ant genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 561, 294–304 (doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.01.029).
• Kutter, H. 1973d. Über die morphologischen Beziehungen der Gattung Myrmica zu ihren Satellitengenera Sifolinia Em., Symbiomyrma Arnoldi und Sommimyrma Menozzi (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 46: 253-268 (page 256, see also)
• Radchenko, A. G.; Elmes, G. W. 2003a. A taxonomic revision of the socially parasitic Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Palaearctic region. Ann. Zool. (Warsaw) 53: 217-243 (page 224, Senior synonym of samnitica)
• Radchenko, A.G. & Elmes, G.W. 2010. Myrmica ants of the Old World. Fauna Mundi 3: 1-789.
• Schifani, E., Castracani, C., Spotti, F.A., Giannetti, D., Ghizzoni, M., Gobbi, M., Lencioni, V., Pedrotti, L., Grasso, D.A., Mori, A. 2021. Social parasite ants in the Alps: a new site of the vulnerable Myrmica myrmicoxena and new uppermost altitudinal limit for M. microrubra. Sociobiology, 68(4): e7276 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v68i4.7276).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Emery C. 1907. Una formica nuova italiana spettante ad un nuovo genere. Rend. Sess. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna (n.s.) 11: 49-51
• Emery C. 1916. Fauna entomologica italiana. I. Hymenoptera.-Formicidae. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 47: 79-275.
• Jansen G., R. Savolainen, K. Vespalainen. 2010. Phylogeny, divergence-time estimation, biogeography and social parasite–host relationships of the Holarctic ant genusMyrmica(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56: 294-304.
• Lampe, K.-H., D. Rohwedder and B. Rach. 2006. Insect Types in the ZFMK Collection, Bonn: Hymenoptera
• Petrov I. Z., et al 2005. A list of currently known ant species (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) of Mt. Stara Planina (Serbia). PROCEEDINGS OF THE BALKAN SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE OF BIOLOGY IN PLOVDIV (BULGARIA) FROM 19TH TILL 21ST OF MAY 2005.
• Pisarski B. 1962. Sur Sifolinia pechi Sams. trouvée en Pologne (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences. Série des Sciences Biologiques. 10: 367-369.
• Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2003. A taxonomic revision of the socially parasitic Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Palaearctic region. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 53: 217-243.
• Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2010. Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Old World. Fauna Mundi 3. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 790 pp.