Myrmica sulcinodis Nylander

12. Myrmica sulcinodis Nylander, 1846.

Figs. 27,49, 60.

Myrmica sulcinodis Nylander, 1846:934.

Worker. Deep reddish with head and gaster darker. Strongly longitudinally rugulose, frontal triangle longitudinally striate. Antennal scapes sharply but evenly curved near base. Petiole high with long anterior face and rounded steeply sloped dorsal area, never truncate. Propodeal spines stout and blunt, curved so that they lie subparallel from above, not divergent. Mesopropodeal furrow shallow. Head Index: 84.7; Frons Indes: 42.8; Frontal Laminae Index: 91.4. Length: 4.0-6.0 mm. Queen. As worker. Length: 5.5-6.8 mm.

Male. Black; frontal triangle and anterior of mesoscutum between notauli striate or rugulose. Length: 5.5-6.5 mm.

Distribution. A common species of upland moors in Scandinavia and Britain, also more locally on lowland heath. - Range: Portugal to East Siberia, Appenines to Arctic Scandinavia.

Biology. This is a characteristic species of relatively well drained heather moorland. It is easily recognised by its generally dark colour with deep red sometimes infuscated alitrunk and legs and its strong sculpture. In Scandinavia it can only be confused with the very local lighter coloured M. gallieni with its much deeper mesopropodeal furrow and clearly truncate petiole or with dark forms of M. ruginodis which commonly occur on high moorland but always have the frontal triangle smooth and shining and the propodeal spines sharper and more divergent from above. M. sulcinodis nests in small colonies of up to 500 workers with single queens in dry peat or sand among heather or under flat stones, in wetter areas occasionally building small mounds of vegetable fragments for brood incubation. This is a strong robust species living by predation and scavenging. The alatae fly in August mating in the air over high ground.