''Formica cunicularia'' is a species of ant found all over Europe. They are especially common in western

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and southern

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, but they can be found from southern

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

to northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

to the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

. In England, Donisthorpe records the species as having occurred as far north as

Bewdley Bewdley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley, and is west of Kidderminster, north of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham. It ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

.Donisthorpe, Horace St. John Kelly. (1915)
British Ants: Their Life-History and Classification
. Reprinted 2013, London: Forgotten Books. pp. 318–320. In ''Formica cunicularia'', the worker is an ashy grey black color and is usually 4.0–6.5 mm long. The males are found to have a uniformly dark body and are 8.0–9.0 mm long. The queen is yellowish red to dark black and is 7.5–9.0 mm.

Habitat

''F. cunicularia'' has habitat ranging from open to relatively cluttered to visually rich. In Finland, Albrecht found that all nests were small, with single entrances in dry, hot environments with low vegetation. They nest under stones or in small earth mounds. Nests are usually separate, containing one

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. ''F. cunicularia'', unlike most other ''

Formica ''Formica'' is a genus of ants of the subfamily Formicinae, including species commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. ''Formica'' is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type ...

'' ''fusca''-group species, can form noticeable hillocks over its nests, and in addition to these produces ''rufibarbis''-like runs in the vicinity of its nest.

Biology

When found in

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

and

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

regions, these ants feed primarily on seeds and as such, their anthills have a much higher density of seeds, but due to the seed preference of the ants there is less seed diversity. ''F. cunicularia'' will follow irregular paths while they forage, but will follow a straight path home when finished. They do this by a process called

path integration Path integration is the method thought to be used by animals for dead reckoning. History Charles Darwin first postulated an inertially-based navigation system in animals in 1873. That isn't the only mechanism that explains their homing behavior though. They can also find a path home based on visual cues in their surroundings. An interesting facet of their homing behavior is that they will combine these two methods when in unfamiliar terrain. ''F. cunicularia'' have the ability to discern between multiple shades of a color and they are particularly good at distinguishing two different greens; This is probably because they often live in very green rich environments. They live in small colonies of around 5000 individuals. They are predaceous but are often scavengers. Its appearance and habits ally it, to some extent, with '' Formica rufibarbis'', although the former's red markings are far less conspicuous.

Horace Donisthorpe Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (17 March 1870 – 22 April 1951) was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus '' Lasius'' after him as ''Donisthorp ...

comments: : Forel points out that 'Formica fusca var.''''rubescens'' ''F. cunicularia''has frequently been confounded with ''rufibarbis'', and it is probable that some British records of ... ''rufibarbis'' really refer to this variety.

Lichen dispersal

An interesting coincidence of these ants is that they help

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

disperse. Lichen has trouble on its own and the

soredia Soredia are common reproduction, reproductive structures of lichens. Lichens asexual reproduction, reproduce asexually by employing simple fragmentation and production of soredia and isidia. Soredia are powdery propagules composed of fungus, fung ...

of the lichen can attach to the ants by virtue of being so small. In areas where they overlap we see more of certain types of lichen growing due to the ''F. cunicularia's'' help. There doesn't seem to be any benefit to the ants.

As a slave species

''F. cunicularia'' is a host of the

slave-making ant Slave-making ants or slaver ants are brood parasites that capture Offspring, broods of other ant species to increase the worker force of their ant colony, colony. After emerging in the slave-maker nest, slave workers work as if they were in their ...

Polyergus rufescens ''Polyergus rufescens'' is a species of slave-making ant native to southern Europe and parts of Asia, commonly referred to as the European Amazon ant or as the slave-making ant. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look ...

.'' Slave makers ''P. rufescens'' will raid to kill adults in the ''F. cunicularia'' colony and steal their brood to be raised to do domestic tasks. ''P. rufescens'' will choose to parasitize ''F. cunicularia'' over other choices even when available. A gland not unique to ''F. cunicularia'' is the

Dufour's gland Dufour's gland is an abdominal gland of certain insects, part of the anatomy of the ovipositor or sting apparatus in female members of Apocrita. The diversification of Hymenoptera took place in the Cretaceous and the gland may have developed a ...

. It is involved with many behaviors of ants, such as trail following, clustering, but also alarm and defense. When ''F. cunicularia'' daubed with extract from a slave-maker ant's

, there was a significant decrease in aggression towards invading workers. This facilitates the takeover of the hosts colony. Another possible reason for ''F. cunicularia'' being chosen as a host species more often because they don't resist as much as other species. In an experiment involving cocoons of multiple species, they didn't discriminate between their own and the slave-making species.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Formica Cunicularia Hymenoptera of Europe cunicularia Insects described in 1798