Ponera coarctata

Identification
Light to dark brown with sparse pubescence but numerous body hairs especially on the gaster. Head more closely punctured than alitrunk; mandibles with four strong teeth towards apex and smaller indistinct denticulae posteriorly. Eyes are minute and often indistinct. Ocelli absent. Length: 3.0-3.5 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution
Throughout Central and South Europe from Portugal to the Caucasus and from North Africa to the Netherlands (Collingwood 1979).

This taxon was described from Luxembourg. It is also found in Kazakhstan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Fennoscandia, Denmark and the British Isles
This is an inconspicuous species of slow movement, mainly carnivorous, living in small nests with two or three queens and 12 to 35 workers. Nests are found under stones or moss in broken stony ground, banks or crumbling cliffs and among flints in open woodland. Alates occur during August and September and have been caught by sweeping hedgerows in late summer (Collingwood 1979).

Nomenclature

 *  coarctata. Formica coarctata Latreille, 1802b: 65, pl. 3, fig. 1 (w.q.) LUXEMBOURG. Foerster, 1850a: 46 (m.). Combination in Ponera: Latreille, 1804: 178. Senior synonym of contracta: Roger, 1863b: 16. Senior synonym of atlantis, lucida and material of the unavailable names colchica, taurica referred here: Taylor, 1967a: 21. See also: Emery, 1909c: 368; Donisthorpe, 1915d: 67; Stitz, 1939: 58, Csösz & Seifert, 2003: 207.
 * contracta. Formica contracta Latreille, 1802c: 195, pl. 7, fig. 40 (w.q.) LUXEMBOURG. [Unnecessary replacement name for coarctata Latreille, 1802b: 65.] Junior synonym of coarctata: Roger, 1863b: 16.
 * lucida. Ponera coarctata var. lucida Emery, 1898c: 130 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. [Misspelled as lucidula by Emery, 1909c: 370.] Junior synonym of coarctata: Taylor, 1967a: 21.
 * atlantis. Ponera coarctata var. atlantis Santschi, 1921e: 166, fig. 2 (w.) TUNISIA. Junior synonym of coarctata: Taylor, 1967a: 21.

Additional References

 * Collingwood, C. A. 1979. The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomol. Scand. 8:1-174.


 * [[Media:Leibig Heinze Holldobler 1997.pdf|Liebig, J.; Heinze, J.; Hölldobler, B. 1997 ("1995"). Queen size variation in the ponerine ant Ponera coarctata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Cambridge) 102:1-11. [1997-01-10] PDF]]