Myrmica obscura

The ecology of M. obscura is very similar to that of Myrmica schencki (see notes on ecology of that species). It is quite common on hot well-grazed alpine meadows where it builds nests in the soil and constructs the woven funnel entrance that we have observed is typical for many schencki-group species in the Old World and “schencki-group-like” species in the North America. Nests average about 400 workers with usually a single queen but two or more queens are not uncommon. Our impression is that M. obscura might be able to tolerate slightly hotter and drier conditions than M. schencki but at this time there is no firm data to support this hypothesis. (Radchenko and Elmes 2010)

Identification
Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - M. obscura belongs to the schencki species group; it was originally described as a variety of [[Myrmica schencki and is closely related to that species. Morphometric analysis showed that the Apennine populations that we equated to M. obscura, had much wider frons (mean FI = 0.266) compared with M. schencki populations sampled from over its geographical range (mean FI = 0.234), furthermore the M. obscura males had shorter scapes (mean SI2 = 0.451 vs. 0.419) that were significantly less angled (more obtuse) at their base (mean 133'° vs. 121'°).

Key to Myrmica of West Europe and North Africa

Distribution
Italy South of Alpes.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Italy.

Nomenclature

 *  obscura. Myrmica schencki var. obscura Finzi, 1926: 111 (w.q.m.) ITALY. Junior synonym of lobicornis: Seifert, 1988b: 38; of schencki: Bernard, 1967: 118; Radchenko, 1994f: 77. Revived from synonymy and raised to species: Elmes, Radchenko, et al. 2008: 99. See also: Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 206.

Etymology
Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - named from Latin obscure = dark or shaded, originally to indicate that the types were a dark form of M. schdncki.