Formica uralensis

This is a boreal species which constructs small mounds from plant material. In some areas of Russia it is associated with bogs (Zryanin & Zryanina, 2007).

Identification
Head entirely black, dark area on dorsum of promesonotum dense black, gaster black, rest of alitrunk and appendages yellowish to brownish red. Head as broad as long, antennal scape broad and short. Frontal triangle sculptured and dull. Bristlelike hairs on dorsum of head, gula, alitrunk and gaster usually present but variable in number. Length: 4.5-8.0 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution
Northeast Europe including N. Germany, Baltic States and West USSR; one record from Swiss Alps. Widely distributed in Mongolia and Central Siberia (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Belarus, China, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation , Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.

Biology
In Europe F. uralensis is typically found on lowland open mosses with scattered trees, more occasionally on drier heath. Nests may be isolated or in groups and are built up of leaf litter and twigs into rounded dome. The nest surface is of fine material which covers a large brood incubation chamber resting on a surface of coarse long twigs. Rosengren (1969) has studied its habits in South Finland; unlike members of the Formica rufa group, this species does not go deep within the nest to hibernate but the ants clump together under peat moss or among tree roots away from the summer nest. Food is mainly honey dew from surrounding betula scrub or pines. Although this species has superficial similarities to F. rufa group species it is morphologically well differentiated with its broad black head, short thick antennae and wide coarsely sculptured frontal triangle.

Nests are usually polygynous and may reproduce by colony fission but fresh colonies may also originate from adoption of fertile queens by. Alatae occur in July. Its marshy habitat in Europe contrasts with the dry steppe habitat in Asia and may be related to the inability of this species to survive aggressive competition from other wood ant species since according to Rosengren (1969), although F. uralensis defends its territory it is easily overwhelmed by other ants such as Formica sanguinea and Myrmica rubra.

Nomenclature

 *  uralensis. Formica uralensis Ruzsky, 1895: 13 (w.q.m.) RUSSIA. [Also described as new by Ruzsky, 1896: 69.] Senior synonym of superba: Wu, 1990: 4. See also: Emery, 1909b: 189; Wheeler, W.M. 1913f: 448; Karavaiev, 1936: 249; Stitz, 1939: 325; Dlussky, 1967a: 79; Kutter, 1977c: 274; Collingwood, 1979: 135; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 189.
 * superba. Formica pratensis var. superba Wheeler, W.M. 1933c: 65 (w.) CHINA. Raised to species: Santschi, 1941: 278. Junior synonym of uralensis: Wu, 1990: 4.

Worker
Wheeler (1933) as Formica pratensis superba - Length 5-6.5 mm.

Head, including the frontal area, thorax and abdomen opaque; mandibles and legs, including the coxae, distinctly shining. Eyes not hairy. Erect hairs golden yellow, very few on the head, gula and promesonotum; border of petiole ciliate; gaster with sparse, blunt, apparently deciduous hairs; pubescence grey, very fine, dense on the coxae and legs; more dilute and not concealing the opaque surface on the gaster. Thorax and petiole rather rich red; mandibles dark brown; entire head, center of pronotum and anteromedian portion of mesonotum and the gaster deep black, decidedly darker than the similar regions in the typical pratensis of Europe, which are really dark brown or brownish black. First gastric segment with a large, transverse red spot just above the petiolar articulation; antennae nearly black; legs dark brown, coxae and trochanters somewhat paler and more reddish; border of petiole not infuscated.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * 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)
 * Baltz V. 1915. Quelques observations sur les fourmis de la province d'Amour. Rev. Russ. d'Entom. 15: 302-319.
 * Baroni Urbani C., and C. A. Collingwood. 1977. The zoogeography of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Northern Europe. Acta Zoologica Fennica 152: 1-34.
 * Bernard F. 1967. Faune de l'Europe et du Bassin Méditerranéen. 3. Les fourmis (Hymenoptera Formicidae) d'Europe occidentale et septentrionale. Paris: Masson, 411 pp.
 * Blinov V. V. 1984. New for the fauna of Byelorussia ant species. Vestsi Akademii Navuk BSSR. Seryia Biialahichnykh Navuk 1984(5): 113-115.
 * Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
 * Chen Ying-Wu et al. 2008. Preliminary list of Formicidae in Gansu Province. Journal of Anhui Agri. Sci. 36(32): 14133-14134
 * Collingwood C. A. 1971. A synopsis of the Formicidae of north Europe. Entomologist 104: 150-176
 * Collingwood C.A. 1959. Scandinavian Ants. Entomol. Rec. 71: 78-83
 * Collingwood C.A. 1961. Ants in Finland. Entomol. Rec. 73: 190-195
 * Collingwood, C. A.. "The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark." Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 8 (1979): 1-174.
 * 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
 * Dlussky G. M., and B. Pisarski. 1970. Formicidae aus der Mongolei. Ergebnisse der Mongolisch-Deutschen Biologischen Expeditionen seit 1962, Nr. 46. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 46: 85-90.
 * Dubovikoff D. A., and Z. M. Yusupov. 2018. Family Formicidae - Ants. In Belokobylskij S. A. and A. S. Lelej: Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Proceedingss of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 6: 197-210.
 * Entomological Society of Latvia. 2003. http://leb.daba.lv/Formicidae.htm (Accessed on December 1st 2013).
 * Fjellberg A. 1975. Occurrence of Formica uralensis Ruzsky (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Pasvik, North Norway Norwegian Journal of Entomology 22: 83.
 * Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
 * Kupianskaia A.N. 1990. Murav'I (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Dal'nego Vostoka SSSR (1989). Vladivostok. 258 pages.
 * Kvamme T. 1982. Atlas of the Formicidae of Norway (Hymenoptera: Aculeata). Insecta Norvegiae 2: 1-56.
 * Lelej A. S. 2012. Annotated catalogue of the Insects of Russian Far East. Volume 1. Hymenoptera. Dalnauka: Vladivostok. 635 p.
 * Maavara V. 1953. Ants of Estonian SSR. ABIKS loodusevaatlejale 10: 1-44.
 * Neumeyer R., and B. Seifert. 2005. Commented check list of free living ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species of Switzerland. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique Suisse 78: 1-17.
 * Nielsen M. G. 2011. A check list of Danish ants and proposed common names. Ent. Meddr. 79: 13-18.
 * Odegaard F. 2013. New and little known ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Norway. Norwegian Journal of Entomology 60, 172175.
 * Paukkunen J., and M. V. Kozlov. 2015. Stinging wasps, ants and bees (Hy menoptera: Aculeata) of the Murmansk region, Northwest Russia. — Entomol. Fennica. 26: 53–73.
 * Petal J. M. 1963. Faune des fourmis de la reserve de tourbiere en projet a Rakowskie Bagno pres de Frampol (voivodie de Lublin). Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Sk?odowska 58(7): 143-174.
 * Pisarski B. 1969. Fourmis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la Mongolie. Fragmenta Faunistica (Warsaw). 15: 221-236.
 * Punttila P., Y. Haila, J. Niemela, and T. Pajunen. 1994. Ant communities in fragments of old-growth taiga and managed surroundings. Ann. Zool. Fennici 31: 131-144.
 * Punttila P., Y. Haila, and H. Tukia. 1996. Ant communities in taiga clearcuts: habitat effects and species interactions. Ecography 19: 16-28.
 * Radchenko, A. 2005. Monographic revision of the ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of North Korea. Annales Zoologici 55(2): 127-221.
 * Ran H., and S. Y. Zhou. 2012. Checklist of chinese ants: formicomorph subfamilies (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) II. Journal of Guangxi Normal University: Natural Science Edition 30(4): 81-91.
 * 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.
 * Siberian Zoological Museum. Website available at http://szmn.sbras.ru/old/Hymenop/Formicid.htm. Accessed on January 27th 2014.
 * Sonnenburg H. 2005. Die Ameisenfauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Niedersachsens und Bremens. Braunschweiger Naturkundliche Schriften 7: 377-441.
 * Stankiewicz A. M., M. Sielezniew, M. L. Borowiec, and W. Czechowski. 2005. Formica uralensis Ruzsky (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Poland. Fragmenta Faunistica 48: 175-180.
 * Sushko G. G. 2013. The ants (hymenoptera, formicidae) bogs Belarusian Lakeland. Proceedings of the international. scientific-practical. conference, Vitebsk, 21-22 November 2013 - Vitebsk, 2013. - P. 215-216.
 * Wegnez P., and F. Mourey. 2016. Formica uralensis Ruzsky, 1895 une espèce encore présente en France mais pour combien de temps ? (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin de la Société royale belge d’Entomologie 152: 72-80.
 * Wu W. 2010. The taxonomic and fauna study on the Formicidae of Liaoning Province (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Master's Thesis Northeast Normal University, 75 pages.
 * Xia Yongjuan, and Zheng Zhemin. 1997. A survey of Formicidae form Xinjiang. Journal of Shaanxi Normal University 25(2): 64-66.
 * Zryanin V. A., and T. A. Zryanina. 2007. New data on the ant fauna Hymenoptera, Formicidae in the middle Volga River Basin. Uspekhi Sovremennoi Biologii 127(2): 226-240.