Lasius arizonicus

Nests are found under stones, in areas with rocky loam.

Identification
Similar in appearance to Lasius interjectus, but averaging and ranging smaller. Body pilosity very sparse and long; gula usually with no standing hairs, occasionally with 1 inconspicuous short hair, rarely with 2 or 3 standing hairs. Pubescence very dilute, especially on gaster; body surface highly glabrous. Worker Dorsum of propodeum convex, often strongly so. Crest of petiolar scale sharp to moderately sharp, weakly to strongly emarginate. Color, yellow to yellowish brown. Queen Crest of petiolar scale sharp to moderately sharp, weakly to strongly emarginate. Color reddish brown. Male Crest of petiolar scale sharp to very sharp; emarginate, straight or convex. Color, dark brown. (Wing 1968)

Distribution
Southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Mexico.

Habitat
Hardwood forests, especially in riparian areas, pinyon-juniper forests, pine oak transition. (Mackay and Mackay 2002)

Abundance
Common in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Biology
Wing (1968) summarized the following natural history information and the alate dates given below. Almost no biological data have been published on Lasius arizonicus. Wheeler (1917) cited 3 localities in Cochise Co. from which the types were collected, giving an altitude of 5000 ft. for one collection. Data associated with the specimens at hand are meager. Four samples were taken under stones, 1 came from a "shaded canyon". Slightly over 20 samples had altitudinal data. With the one exception of a collection made at 2000 ft., they ranged from approximately 5000 to 8500 ft.

Reproduction
Alate dates Eight dated samples contained alates. The extreme dates are June 13 and August 8. On June 13, queens alone were captured on 2 occasions. Dealate queens were taken on July 6 and 8. It is likely that flights begin by mid-June. The collection on August 8 contained workers and males; it is probably a nest collection. Thus flights may still occur as late as early August.

This species is likely to be a temporary parasite, but its host is.

Nomenclature

 *  arizonicus. Lasius (Acanthomyops) interjectus subsp. arizonicus Wheeler, W.M. 1917a: 532 (w.) U.S.A. Wing, 1968: 90 (q.m.). Combination in Acanthomyops: Creighton, 1950a: 431; in Lasius: Ward, 2005: 13. Raised to species: Buren, 1950: 184. See also: Wing, 1968: 90.

Type Material
Wing (1968) - Type locality: Huachuca Mts., Cochise Co., Arizona. Syntypes in the.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Cover S. P., and R. A. Johnson. 20011. Checklist of Arizona Ants. Downloaded on January 7th at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/AZants-2011%20updatev2.pdf
 * Eastlake Chew A. and Chew R. M. 1980. Body size as a determinant of small-scale distributions of ants in evergreen woodland southeastern Arizona. Insectes Sociaux 27: 189-202
 * Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
 * Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
 * Mackay W. P., and E. E. Mackay. 2002. The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 400 pp.
 * Michigan State University, The Albert J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection. Accessed on January 7th 2014 at http://www.arc.ent.msu.edu:8080/collection/index.jsp
 * O'Keefe S. T., J. L. Cook, T. Dudek, D. F. Wunneburger, M. D. Guzman, R. N. Coulson, and S. B. Vinson. 2000. The Distribution of Texas Ants. The Southwestern Entomologist 22: 1-92.
 * Pape R. B. 2016. The importance of ants in cave ecology, with new records and behavioral observations of ants in Arizona caves. International Journal of Speleology 45(3): 185-205.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1917. The mountain ants of western North America. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 52: 457-569.
 * Wing M. W. 1968. Taxonomic revision of the Nearctic genus Acanthomyops (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Memoirs of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station 405: 1-173.