Formica gagatoides

Within Japan records are few, but this species is widely distributed at localities 2700 m or more above sea level in central Honshu (North, South and Central Alps, Yatsugatake Mountains (Sonobe, 1979). Nuptial flights probably occur after late August. In Siberia, this species shows a complex phylogenetic relationship with Formica kozlovi (Chesnokova et al., 2023).

Identification
Black, mandibles and appendages brown. Head and alitrunk dull, gaster shining with sparse adpressed pubescent hairs - length less than half interspace width. Propodeum angled in profile. Petiole scale broadly heart-scaped with more or less emarginate dorsal border. Erect hairs on gaster restricted to posterior border of tergites; mid femora normally without outstanding hairs. Length: 4.2-6.0 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution
Exclusively arctic from Norway to Northeast Siberia. First reported from Japan by Sonobe & Dlussky (1977) and Kondoh (1976).

The Reinig Line faunal divide separates East Siberian, Inner Mongolian, Chinese and Tibetan species from those of Central Siberia, West Siberia and the Turanian region (DE LATTIN, 1967). In ants, the Reinig Line is crossed only by a cold resistant species including Camponotus herculeanus, Formica exsecta, Formica gagatoides, Formica lugubris, Formica manchu, Formica picea, Formica pisarskii, Formica uralensis, Lasius flavus, Leptothorax acervorum and Tetramorium sibiricum (DLUSSKY, 1967; FRANCOEUR, 1983; SEIFERT, 2000, 2021a, 2021b).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India. Palaearctic Region: Belgium, China, Finland, Japan, Montenegro, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, Switzerland.

Biology
This is one of the few Fennoscandian species that does not occur in the Alps or other mountains of Central Europe. In behaviour and general appearance it resembles Formica fusca, which it replaces in the north, but can be immediately distinguished by the shining gaster from F. fusca and from Formica transkaucasica by the duller head and alitrunk. It lives in small colonies of a few hundred workers with one or a few queens. Alatae fly in July and August.

Nomenclature

 *  gagatoides. Formica fusca var. gagatoides Ruzsky, 1904a: 289 (w.q.) RUSSIA. Ruzsky, 1915a: 423 (m.); Stärcke, 1935: 267 (footnote) (m.). Combination in F. (Serviformica): Emery, 1925b: 249. Subspecies of picea Nylander: Emery, 1925b: 249; Stitz, 1939: 368. Raised to species: Holgersen, 1942: 15; Holgersen, 1943a: 9. Junior synonym of picea Nylander: Bernard, 1967: 299. Revived from synonymy and status as species: Kutter, 1977c: 255; Collingwood, 1979: 121; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 188.

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