Leptothorax kutteri

This species is a workerless inquiline. Queens live in the nest of a different ant species, have no workers and are entirely dependent on their hosts for food. The queens produce eggs that are cared for and raised to maturity by the host workers.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey.

Biology
Ødegaard et al. (2015) - In Norway, 1 dealate queen and 3 alate males, in a colony of established in a rotten pine log. The site was located in a boreal forest dominated by Scots pine Pinus sylvestris Linnaeus, 1753 and Norway spruce Picea abies (Linnaeus, 1753) Karsten, 1881. Relatively large amounts of dead wood in proper state for establishment of L. acervorum was present in the surroundings. The occurrence of this species in Norway is not surprising, as it has a wide distribution in both Sweden and Finland. The species lives in an inquiline relationship with Leptothorax acervorum. One or a few queens are normally found in the host colony and their presence do not seem to affect brood productions by the host appreciably (Douwes et al. 2012).

Male
Diploid males are known to occur in this species (found in 19.7% of 61 examined nests) (Buschinger & Fischer, 1991; Cournault & Aron, 2009).

Nomenclature

 *  kutteri. Leptothorax (Mychothorax) kutteri Buschinger, 1966a: 327, figs. 1, 2, 3 (q.m.) GERMANY. Combination in Doronomyrmex: Buschinger, 1981: 215; in Leptothorax: Heinze, 1998: 195 (combination not stated); Bolton, 2003: 270. See also: Kutter, 1967b: 85; Kutter, 1977c: 130; Buschinger, 1972: 169.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Alinvi, O., J. Bohlin and J. P. Ball. 2008. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Interspecific competition among ants in the boreal forest: Testing predictions from a linear hierarchical competition model. Insectes Sociaux 55(1):1-11.
 * AntArea. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://antarea.fr/fourmi/
 * Antarea (Personal Communication - Rumsais Blatrix- 27 April 2018)
 * Antarea (at www.antarea.fr on June 11th 2017)
 * ArtDatabanken Bugs (via GBIG)
 * Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
 * Borowiec M. L. 2007. Second record of the ant Leptothorax kutteri Buschinger, 1966 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Poland. Przeglad Zoologiczny 50: 37-40.
 * Buschinger A. 1999. Bemerkenswerte ameisenfunde aus Sudtirol (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecologische Nachrichten 3: 1-8.
 * Casevitz-Weulersse J., and C. Galkowski. 2009. Liste actualisee des Fourmis de France (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 114: 475-510.
 * 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
 * Douwes, P., and A. Buschinger. "Två för Nordeuropa nya myror." Entomologisk Tidskrift 104 (1983): 1-4.
 * Gjershaug J. O., F. Odegaard, A. Staverlokk, and K. M. Olsen. 2016. Records of bilateral gynandromorphism in three species of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Norway. Norwegian. Journal of Entomology 63: 65–70.
 * Heinze, J. 1995. The Origin of Workerless Parasites in Leptothorax (S. Str.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche 102 (3-4) :195-214
 * Odegaard F., K. M. Olsen, A. Staverlokk, and J. O. Gjershaug. 2015. Towards a new era for the knowledge of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Norway? Nine species new to the country. Nowegian Journal of Entomology 62: 80–99.
 * Saaristo M. I. 1995. Distribution maps of the outdoor myrmicid ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Finland, with notes on their taxonomy and ecology. Entomol. Fennica 6: 153-162.
 * 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.
 * 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.