Lasius pallescens

Schenck observed a swarming nest at the trunk of an oak near Dillenburg, Hessen. He collected a gyne and a male and described the gyne to be 3.5 lines long, to have a pale yellowish head, mesosoma, petiole, antennae, mandibles and legs, a brown gaster, hirsute scapes and tibiae and hyaline wings. The male was reported to be 2 lines long, to have a brown head, brownish mandibles, a yellowish mesosoma with three brown longitudinal stripes, a brownish scutellum and posterior part of mesosoma and hyaline wings. If Schenck meant Prussian lines, the gyne and male were 7.6 and 4.4 mm long if referring to Hessian lines 8.8 and 5 mm. This description strongly indicates genus Lasius but I do not know a German species to which such a character combination might refer (Seifert, 2020).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Germany.

Nomenclature

 * . Formica pallescens Schenck, 1852: 55 (q.m.) GERMANY.
 * Status as species: Mayr, 1855: 363 (footnote).
 * Junior synonym of niger: Roger, 1859: 238; Mayr, 1861: 49 (in key); Mayr, 1863: 425; Roger, 1863b: 11; Mayr, 1865: 55; André, 1874: 202 (in list); Emery & Forel, 1879: 452; Dalla Torre, 1893: 189; Donisthorpe, 1915d: 200; Emery, 1925b: 230; Donisthorpe, 1927b: 229; Karavaiev, 1936: 202; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 205; Bolton, 1995b: 225; Radchenko, 2016: 360.
 * Unidentifiable taxon, incertae sedis in Lasius: Seifert, 2020: 80.