Formica rubicunda Emery, 1893
Formica rubicunda: https://marylandbiodiversity.com/species/9423
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Formica rubicunda is named for the bright reddish coloration of these ants (rubicunda is based on the Latin for reddish or ruddy) (Ellison et al., 2012). This species, like the other members of the Formica sanguinea species group, is a socially-parasitic ant species. Colonies of this ant always have substantial numbers of workers of the Formica fusca species group, which the rubicunda workers capture as pupae from neighboring colonies of their hosts. Raids of this species, and related species, can be a common sight on hot summer afternoons in open habitats containing numerous Formica subsericea nests. Since the host workers do all of the tasks related to colony construction and brood care, the actual nests take on the character of an oversized host colony, with a population greater than the normal size of host colonies. One can often surmise at a glance that a Formica nest is a sanguinea group mixed colony by the unusually large size of the nest, and flipping debris or leaves at the nest entrance make this suspicion easy to confirm. The population ratio of host workers to the slavemakers is greatly skewed in favor of the host workers, who perform all tasks (including foraging, brood care, nest construction, etc.) except for raiding for pupae, which the generally larger rubicunda workers do efficiently.

Relationships

This species is dulotic on species of the Formcia fusca group, which in Maryland probably largely means Formica subsericea, the most common representative.

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Source: Wikipedia

Formica rubicunda
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Genus: Formica
Species:
F. rubicunda
Binomial name
Formica rubicunda
Emery, 1893

Formica rubicunda is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.[1][2][3][4]

References

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  1. ^ "Formica rubicunda Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  2. ^ "Formica rubicunda". GBIF. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  3. ^ "AntWeb". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2019-07-02.

Further reading

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