Stenamma westwoodii

Identification
Pale to dark rusty red; petiole a simple node with rounded dorsal area, propodeal spines short. Head longitudinally striate in front, alitrunk and back of head with weak reticulate sculpture. Body with erect scattered pale hairs, sparse and decumbent on appendages. Length: 3.5-4.0 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution
South and Central Europe from Spain to Caucasus and Italy to South Scandinavia (Collingwood 1979).

This taxon was described from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Biology
This is an unobtrusive species often taken as solitary workers in woodland. Nests consists of up to 150 workers with a single queen. They may be found in dry well drained woodland under deep stones or among tree roots and under moss. Workers forage during early morning or on dull warm days. This species is partly scavenging and partly predatory on small insects and mites but is slow moving and non-aggressive towards other ant species. Alatae are found in the nests from August to late autumn and have been taken on the wing during September and October.

Nomenclature

 *  westwoodii. Stenamma westwoodii Westwood, 1839: 219, fig. 86 (m.) GREAT BRITAIN. Mayr, 1861: 56 (w.q.); Perkins, 1891: 123 (gynandromorph). See also: Donisthorpe, 1915d: 139; Arnol'di, 1928b: 206; DuBois, 1993: 307; DuBois, 1998b: 226; Rigato, 2011: 14.

Additional References

 * Collingwood, C. A. 1979. The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomol. Scand. 8:1-174.


 * [[Media:Della Santa 1988b.pdf|Della Santa, E. 1988b. Observation d'une anomalie de la morphologie chez une de Stenamma westwoodi Emery (Formicidae). Bull. Romand Entomol. 6: 101-103 PDF]]


 * Rigato, F. 2011. Contributions to the taxonomy of West European and North African Stenamma of the westwoodii species-group. (Hymenoptera Formicidae). Memorie della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, 37: 1-56.