Formica biophilica James, 2007

Trager, J. C., MacGown, J. A. & Trager, M. D., 2007, Revision of the Nearctic endemic Formica pallidefulva group., Advances in ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Homage to E. O. Wilson - 50 years of contributions. (Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 80), pp. 610-636 : 617-619

publication ID

21293

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6245950

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03EAB115-CE5E-8B22-4AAA-80E78C29820C

treatment provided by

Christiana

scientific name

Formica biophilica James
status

new species

Formica biophilica James   HNS C. Trager new species

Figures 4 b, 5 b, 6 b

Formica pallidefulva   HNS : Creighton, 1950, in part [Misidentification]

Formica schaufussi subsp. dolosa   HNS : Creighton, 1950, in part [Misidentification]

TYPE DATA

HL 1.43; HW 1.15; EL 0.42; SL 1.70; WL 2.34; PnW 0.95; PnM 6; PpM 14; TM 30

Type specimen label: ALABAMA, Chilton Co., Interstate- 65 rest area 3 mi. E of Thorsby . 1 - X- 1983. M. B., J. R., B. R. DuBois. (JCT). Holotype and three paratypes on two pins. The holotype and one paratype will be deposited at MCZ and the other two specimens will be added to the excellent material of this species collected in Alabama and elsewhere by W. S. Creighton, now housed at LACM .

DIAGNOSIS

Worker Gracile, shiny, and the brightest yellow member of the group. Head, mesosoma and legs light reddish- to pale brownish yellow; head and mesosoma not at all or only a little lighter than gaster. Dorsal sclerites of mesosoma and especially the gaster with long, usually curved, erect macrochaetae. Number of macrochaetae on propodeum usually exceeds the number on the pronotum (20 of 32 specimens examined). Sheen of gaster readily visible through pubescence composed of pale, slender, grayish hairs of medium density (Fig. 4 b). Erect macrochaetae on gaster long, commonly 0.25 - 0.30 mm, tapering to a point and curved (Fig. 6 b).

Queen Color, gastral pubescence and shininess like the workers, with the usual differences in size; with faint tessellation of upper portion of head, pronotum, sides of mesothorax, propodeum and gastral dorsum; wings, when present, clear to light brownish.

Male Pubescence and pilosity abundant; mesosomal dorsum dull-punctate; head and gaster very dark brown, appearing black; mesosoma dusky yellowish brown, legs reddish brown; wings clear to light brownish. A little brighter in color, especially mesosoma, less pilose, pilosity also finer, and less pubescent than dolosa   HNS .

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

F. biophilica   HNS and F. incerta   HNS are sympatric in the southern part of the latter's range. In the field, F. biophilica   HNS appears more brightly and uniformly reddish-yellow in color, and (if several workers of a colony are present) weakly polymorphic, whereas F. incerta   HNS is more brownish yellow, smaller overall, and usually (though not invariably) more monomorphic within colonies. Metrically, F. biophilica   HNS is more slender, has a proportionally longer mesosoma and narrower head than F. incerta   HNS (compare SI, TWI and CI values, Table 1). F. biophilica   HNS usually has more macrochaetae on the propodeum than on the pronotum (20 of 32 specimens), whereas F. incerta   HNS usually has more macrochaetae on the pronotum than on the propodeum (22 of 31 specimens).

F. biophilica   HNS is also somewhat more brightly and uniformly colored, shinier and overall less hairy, and has a sharper petiolar crest in profile than F. dolosa   HNS . The F. biophilica   HNS specimens examined in this study also had a significantly higher CTI and OI (were more slender and had relatively larger eyes) than F. dolosa   HNS (Table 1). In the South, the less pilose minor workers and nanitics of F. biophilica   HNS are difficult to differentiate from F. pallidefulva   HNS . Often a rather squarer propodeal profile and more uniform bright reddish yellow color indicate F. biophilica   HNS . Additionally, on average the TWI of F. pallidefulva   HNS is larger than that of F. biophilica   HNS (Table 1). Ecologically, specimens from fens, bogs, swamps and fresh or salt marshes are most likely to be F. biophilica   HNS . In the northern part of the range of F. biophilica   HNS , its bright color will always distinguish it from the at least partially brown F. incerta   HNS and F. pallidefulva   HNS .

ETYMOLOGY

The name biophilica is given in allusion to E. O. Wilson's popularly inspirational coining biophilia, meaning the love of other species as a part of human nature. Specimens from Alabama, Dr. Wilson's home state, were chosen as the type series to further honor his contributions to myrmecology, conservation and behavioral biology.

RANGE AND HABITAT

Found in mesic to hydric open habitats, including fields, prairies, lawns, fens, bogs, marshes and open woodlands, from the Carolinas to Missouri, south to northern Florida and central Texas. Northward, its occurrence is more sporadic, especially in formerly glaciated regions, where F. biophilica   HNS shifts to drier (thus warmer) loess and sandy grassland locations. It reaches central Illinois in the Illinois River outwash sand prairies and reaches southeastern New York in the sandy plains along the East Coast and on Long Island. The habitat overlaps that of F. incerta   HNS in unglaciated prairies and eastern meadows, and overlaps that of F. dolosa   HNS in southern pine woodland and savanna. F. biophilica   HNS is absent from the most xeric and infertile sites occupied by F. dolosa   HNS . In the Ozarks and other southern U. S. hills, F. biophilica occurs in groundwater fens, bogs, marshes and flatwoods. This is the only southern Formica   HNS that occurs in these wetland habitats, where it nests in the elevated hummocks of organic matter formed by grass or sedge tussocks. It is less common than F. pallidefulva   HNS in human habitats, but occasionally shows up in lawns, parks and campuses, especially in parts of the South where fire ants are less abundant.

SPECIMENS EXAMINED

ARKANSAS: Logan ; ALABAMA: Butler ; Chilton ; DeKalb ; Lawrence ; Mobile ; Morgan ; St. Clair ; Tuscaloosa ; DELAWARE: Sussex ; DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Washington ; FLORIDA: Alachua ; Columbia ; Gadsden ; Okaloosa ; Polk ; Walton ; GEORGIA: Clarke ; Habersham ; Lumpkin ; Rabun ; ILLINOIS: Mason ; LOUISIANA: Natchitoches ; Tammany ; Washington ; MISSISSIPPI: Alcorn ; Bolivar ; Chickasaw ; Lafayette ; Lee ; Monroe ; Oktibbeha ; Panola ; Pontotoc ; Tippah ; MISSOURI: Franklin ; Lincoln ; Reynolds ; Washington ; NEW YORK: Rockland ; SOUTH CAROLINA: Pickens ; TENNESSEE: Davidson ; Monroe ; Sevier ; TEXAS: Cass ; Collin ; Potter .

NATURAL HISTORY

Nests of F. biophilica   HNS have simple, cryptic openings in wetlands, grasslands or less often, in open woodlands. The entrance is usually hidden amongst grass or sedges. In springtime, colonies of F. biophilica   HNS may build a 10 - 25 cm diameter mound of soil and plant fragments nestled against a grass or sedge clump, this collapsing in disuse during the hot, dry weather of summer. In fens, bogs and wet meadows, when ground at the base is permanently or seasonally saturated, F. biophilica   HNS nests in the upper parts of graminoid tussocks. One colony under a strip of bark in unmowed grass in eastern Missouri contained four larvae of myrmecophilous staphylinid beetles, probably Xenodusa cava LeConte (but not collected for determination).

This species has been found as host to the slavemaker Polyergus lucidus   HNS s. l. in Washington, D. C., northern Georgia and east-central Missouri. The variety of this slavemaker parasitizing F. biophilica   HNS has longer scapes and is somewhat less shiny and slightly more pubescent than typical P. lucidus lucidus Mayr   HNS , which parasitizes F. incerta   HNS . F. biophilica   HNS occurs among the many hosts of F. pergandei   HNS in the prairies of Missouri, but has only been observed in combination with other host species. At one site, a F. pergandei   HNS nest contained a melange of six slave species including (in order of decreasing relative abundance) F. pallidefulva   HNS , F subsericea   HNS Say, F. biophilica   HNS , F. dolosa   HNS , F. incerta   HNS and F. obscuriventris Mayr   HNS , certainly the most species-rich, naturally occurring ant colony on record!

Sexuals have been collected in nests in Missouri, Texas and Georgia in mid-June to early July, but no flight or colony-founding activity has been recorded. There is one example of a queen-male bilateral gynandromorph in a Missouri collection. The worker pupae are always enclosed in a pale tan cocoon, and the sexuals in a larger, darker cocoon.

MCZ

USA, Massachusetts, Cambridge, Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology

LACM

USA, California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Formicidae

Genus

Formica

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