Vespoidea

About: Vespoidea is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1365 publications have been published within this topic receiving 11769 citations.

Description of a new species of slave-making ant in the Formica sanguinea group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Abstract: The new species, Formica gynocrates, is described and illustrated from all the castes. This slave-making species is a member of the sanguinea group and is most similar to F. pergandei. The type locality is the E. S. George Reserve, Livingston County, Michigan. Specimens were also examined from North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. A key is prmided for the separation f the described North American members of the sanguinea group. The most commonly associated slave species is F. vinculans Wheeler, a member of the neogagates group. It is our opinion that F. vinculans is a valid species and not a synonym of F. neogagates, as has been previously supposed. The following new species is described in order that the name might be available for use by Dr. Mary Talbot, who has studied its behavior and ecology. This species was long ago recognized as new by WFB and a preliminary description was drawn up. Following the death of WFB in 1983, and the acquisition of his collection by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (LACM), RRS was asked to complete the description for publication. The Formica sanguinea group is a small, Holarctic complex of dulotic (slave-making) ants that enslave species belonging to other species groups in the genus Formica. Most frequently, enslaved species belong to the fusca, neogagates, or pallidefulva groups. Occasionally species in other groups may be enslaved. Sometimes, also, two or more slave species may be present in a single nest. Creighton (1950), following Wheeler (1913) and others, placed within Raptiformica all species of Formica with the apical clypeal margin more or less sharply notched or incised. v,,1lile many species of Raptiformica were known slave-makers, others clearly were not. The non-dulotic species were removed from this group by Wilson and Brown (1955), who als re~ted Raptiformica as a subgenus. The few, known slave-making species were grouped into the sanguinea group, a total of six species (including the Eurasian F. sanguinea) after five names were placed in synonymy. Buren (1968) reviewed the group and recognized a total of 10 species, after he resurrected four names from the synonymy of Wilson and Brown. One new species was described. The only recent changes include one new synonymy by Snelling (1969) and the return of F. obtu5opilosa to the sanguinea group by Wheeler and Wheeler (1963). Considerable work remains to be done in the systematics of this group, particularly in western Nonh America, but that is beyond the scope f the present paper. IEntomology Section. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007. 2Department of Entomology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32661. Deceased 3 August