Formica pressilabris

Identification
Bicoloured; head and scale deeply excised. Eyes bare. Maxillary palps very short, 5 or 6 segmented. Erect hairs on dorsum restricted to anterior margin of clypeus and gaster tergites 4 to apex. Clypeus transversely impressed below mid line, with a distinct concavity when seen in profile. Gaster pubescence sparse with hairs slightly shorter than their interspace - general appearance moderately shining. Length: 4.2-6.0 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution
Widely distributed from Spanish Pyrenees to Siberia, Italy to Central Fennoscandia and the Russian Federation.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Mongolia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.

Biology
Collingwood (1979) - This species constructs football size mounds of grass litter in dry pasture and on banks in open woodland. Usually two or more nests are found together with up to two thousand workers and several queens in each. In Poland F. pressilabris has been extensively studied by Czechowski (1975); there the species is mainly found in open meadows in polygynous polycalic colonies of many nests. The chief food source was the exudate of species of aphids feeding on herbage and very little predatory activity was observed. In Fennoscandia nests observed have usually been either single or more commonly in groups of up to five. Although similar in appearance to Formica forsslundi this is a dry habitat species and does not normally occur in the neighbourhood of mires. Alatae occur in July and August.

Nomenclature

 *  pressilabris. Formica pressilabris Nylander, 1846a: 911, pl. 18, fig. 21 (w.q.m.) FINLAND. Combination in F. (Coptoformica): Müller, 1923: 146. Subspecies of exsecta: Forel, 1874: 51; Emery & Forel, 1879: 450; Ruzsky, 1904b: 5; Emery, 1909b: 191; Wheeler, W.M. 1913f: 491; Forel, 1915d: 59; Emery, 1916b: 257; Ruzsky, 1925b: 43; Emery, 1925b: 257; Karavaiev, 1929b: 217; Karavaiev, 1936: 255; Stitz, 1939: 312. Status as species: André, 1882b: 179; Ruzsky, 1895: 12; Bondroit, 1912: 352; Bondroit, 1918: 64; Kutter, 1957: 11; Bernard, 1967: 324; Dlussky, 1964: 1032; Dlussky, 1967a: 103; Dlussky & Pisarski, 1971: 201; Kutter, 1977c: 285; Collingwood, 1979: 132; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 285; Seifert, 2000a: 541. Senior synonym of rufomaculata: Seifert, 2000a: 541. See also: Radchenko, 2007: 36.
 * rufomaculata. Formica exsecta var. rufomaculata Ruzsky, 1895: 13 (w.) RUSSIA. [Also described as new by Ruzsky, 1896: 68.] Subspecies of pressilabris: Ruzsky, 1902e: 16. Raised to species: Dlussky, 1964: 1035. Junior synonym of pressilabris: Seifert, 2000a: 541. See also: Dlussky, 1967a: 108; Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 552; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 203.