''Temnothorax corsicus'' is a socially parasitic ant species known from Southern

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 ...

, more specifically from

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and

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. It is a workerless social parasite of the ant ''

Temnothorax exilis ''Temnothorax'' is a genus of ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoi ...

'' in the same genus.Buschinger, A., & Winter, U. (1985). Life history and male morphology of the workerless parasitic ant Epimyrma corsica(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomologia generalis, 10(2), 65-75. Available at http://antbase.org/ants/publications/6841/6841.pdf accessed 15 Dec 2021Mei, M. (1992). A survey of the socially parasitic ant generaEpimyrma Emery, 1915 andChalepoxenus Menozzi, 1922 in Italy (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae). Insectes Sociaux, 39(2), 145-156. Available at http://antbase.org/ants/publications/11993/11993.pdf accessed 15 Dec 2021 It is most closely related to Temnothorax adlerzi, a species from Greece with a very similar life cycle.Douwes, P., Buschinger, A., & Jessen, K. (1988). Epimyrma adlerzi sp. n.(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Greece: morphology and life history. Insect Systematics & Evolution, 19(2), 239-249. Available at http://antbase.org/ants/publications/5457/5457.pdf accessed 14 Mar 2022

Biology

Sibling ''T. corsicus'' queens and males mate within their natal nest throughout Autumn and remain there until early Spring, when they disperse and infiltrate colonies of ''Temnothorax exilis''. This is a closely related species which ''T. corsicus'' takes advantage of to found its colonies. The ''T. corsicus'' queen is quickly accepted by the ''T. exilis'' worker ants and begins throttling the host queen with the aim of killing it. The throttling can last for several days, until the host queen is left paralized and eventually dies. The parasite is therefore able to lay its own eggs, which are taken care of by the host workers and develop into new ''T. corsicus'' males and queens by Autumn the same year. T. corsicus is known as a degenerate slavemaker, as none of the eggs produced by its queens hatch into worker ants. This means that, from the moment the host queen is killed, no new workers can be produced by the colony, and the ''T. corsicus'' have to rely entirely on the host workers to survive. Therefore the parasitized colony has a very short life expectancy (~3 years) and is extinguished once the last host workers have died out.Buschinger, A., & Winter, U. (1985). Life history and male morphology of the workerless parasitic ant Epimyrma corsica(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomologia generalis, 10(2), 65-75. Available at http://antbase.org/ants/publications/6841/6841.pdf accessed 15 Dec 2021

References

Myrmicinae Hymenoptera of Europe Insects described in 1895 {{Myrmicinae-stub