Myrmica sulcinodis

Identification
Deep reddish with head and gaster darker. Strongly longitudinally rugulose; frontal triangle longitudinally striate. Antennal scapes sharply but evenly curved near base. Petiole high with long anterior face and rounded steeply sloped dorsal area, never truncate. Propodeal spines stout and blunt, curved so that they lie subparallel from above, not divergent. Mesopropodeal furrow shallow. Head Index: 84.7; Frons Index: 42.8; Frontal Laminae Index: 91.4. Length: 4.0-6.0 mm. (Collingwood 1979)

Distribution
Portugal to East Siberia, Appenines to Arctic Scandinavia (Collingwood 1979).

This taxon was described from Finland. It is also found in Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Biology
Collingwood (1979) - This is a characteristic species of relatively well drained heather moorland. It is easily recognised by its generally dark colour with deep red sometimes infuscated alitrunk and legs and its strong sculpture. In Scandinavia it can only be confused with the very local lighter coloured Myrmica gallienii with its much deeper mesopropodeal furrow and clearly truncate petiole or with dark forms of Myrmica ruginodis which commonly occur on high moorland but always have the frontal triangle smooth and shining and the propodeal spines sharper and more divergent from above. M. sulcinodis nests in small colonies of up to 500 workers with single queens in dry peat or sand among heather or under flat stones, in wetter areas occasionally building small mounds of vegetable fragments for brood incubation. This is a strong robust species living by predation and scavenging. The alatae fly in August mating in the air over high ground.

Nomenclature

 *  sulcinodis. Myrmica sulcinodis Nylander, 1846a: 934 (w.q.) FINLAND. Mayr, 1855: 409 (m.); Hauschteck, 1965: 323 (k.); Donisthorpe, 1919: 1 (ergatandromorph); Santschi, 1931b: 351 (ergatandromorph). Subspecies of rubra: Forel, 1874: 76; Emery & Forel, 1879: 460; Wheeler, W.M. 1908g: 406. Status as species: Saunders, E. 1880: 215; André, 1883a: 317; Bondroit, 1912: 351; Emery, 1908a: 173; Forel, 1915d: 29; Donisthorpe, 1915d: 122; Emery, 1916b: 119; Finzi, 1926: 86; Bernard, 1967: 121; Kutter, 1977c: 70; Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 531; Collingwood, 1979: 57; Seifert, 1988b: 7; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 87. Senior synonym of derzhavini: Kupyanskaya, 1986b: 94; of myrmecophila: Boven, 1970a: 130; Seifert, 1988b: 8; of nigripes: Seifert, 1988b: 7; of perelegans: Mayr, 1855: 408; Smith, F. 1855b: 120; of sulcinodoruginodis, sulcinodoscabrinodis Forel: Bernard, 1967: 121; of eximia: Radchenko, 1994g: 81; of sulcinodoscabrinodis Ruzsky, vicaria: Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 294. See also: Radchenko, 2007: 28; Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 293.
 * perelegans. Myrmica perelegans Curtis, 1854: 214, pl. 23, figs. 15-17 (w.q.m.) GREAT BRITAIN. Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Mayr, 1855: 408; Smith, F. 1855b: 120.
 * nigripes. Myrmica sulcinodis var. nigripes Ruzsky, 1895: 32 (w.q.m.) RUSSIA. [Also described as new by Ruzsky, 1896: 73.] Subspecies of sulcinodis: Ruzsky, 1936: 95; Weber, 1948a: 268; Sadil, 1952: 244. Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Seifert, 1988b: 7.
 * sulcinodoscabrinodis. Myrmica sulcinodoscabrinodis Ruzsky, 1895: 32 (w.q.m.) RUSSIA. [Also described as new by Ruzsky, 1896: 73.] Junior syonym of sulcinodis: Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 294.
 * myrmecophila. Myrmica myrmecophila Wasmann, 1910: 516 (q., actually Mermis-infested w.) AUSTRIA. Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Boven, 1970a: 130; Seifert, 1988b: 8; Radchenko & Elmes, 2003a: 239.
 * sulcinodoruginodis. Myrmica ruginodis var. sulcinodoruginodis Donisthorpe, 1915d: 121 (w.) GREAT BRITAIN. [Myrmica rubra var. sulcinodoruginodis Emery & Forel, 1879: 461. Nomen nudum, attributed to Forel.] Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Bernard, 1967: 121.
 * sulcinodoscabrinodis. Myrmica sulcinodis var. sulcinodoscabrinodis Forel, 1915d: 29 (diagnosis in key) (w.) SWITZERLAND. [Myrmica rubra var. sulcinodoscabrinodis Forel, 1874: 77. Nomen nudum. Unresolved junior primary homonym of sulcinodoscarbinodis Ruzsky, above.] Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Bernard, 1967: 121.
 * derzhavini. Myrmica sulcinodis subsp. derzhavini Ruzsky, 1920: 76 (w.) RUSSIA. Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Kupyanskaya, 1986b: 94.
 * vicaria. Myrmica sulcinodis subsp. vicaria Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1928b: 33 (w.) RUSSIA. Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 294.
 * eximia. Myrmica sulcinodis subsp. eximia Kupyanskaya, 1990: 104, figs. 17, 18 (w.q.m.) RUSSIA. Junior synonym of sulcinodis: Radchenko, 1994g: 81.

Additional References

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


 * Csősz, S. 2012. Nematode infection as significant source of unjustified taxonomic descriptions in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News, 17, 27-31.