Proformica ferreri

Pashaei Rad et al. (2018) found this species in Iran in a montane area with moderate rainfall.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Iberian Peninsula, Iran, Spain.

Biology
Larger workers can have greatly distended gasters and function as repletes.

One colony excavated in the Sierra Nevada at the end of winter (15 April 2008) comprised 1426 workers and 7 large sexual larvae. A queen was not found and there was no other brood (A. Tinaut & C. Peeters, unpublished). Most of the largest workers (= 219) had distended gasters; three were dissected and had yolky oocytes in their ovaries.



Nomenclature

 *  ferreri. Proformica ferreri Bondroit, 1918: 41 (w.m.) SPAIN. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1982: 176 (l.). Subspecies of nasuta: Santschi, 1919e: 246; Menozzi, 1922b: 332; Santschi, 1931a: 13. Revived status as species: Bernard, 1967: 285.