Myrmecina graminicola

16. Myrmecina graminicola (Latreille, 1802)

Figs. 90,91.

Formica graminicola Latreille, 1802:256.

Worker. Blackish brown with front of head, underside and appendages rusty yellow. Body and appendages strongly haired. Antennae with intermediate funicular segments transverse. Pronotum with angled antero-lateral corners. Head and alitrunk strongly rugose. Length: 3-3.6 mm.

Queen. As worker, often with more reddish areas exposed. Length: 4-4.2 mm.

Male. Black, smooth and shining, hairy. Eyes and ocelli large. Mandibles edentate, very reduced. Wings very dark, pilose; forewings with 1 cubital and 1 discoidal cell. Femora dilated in middle. Length: 3.4-4 mm.

Distribution. Very local in Denmark: EJ, and South Sweden: Sk., Sm., Öl., Gtl., Vg. - In British Isles rather local from South coast of England to Midlands and South Wales. - Range: Portugal to Caucasus, North Africa to Sweden.

Biology. This is a sluggish slow moving species; workers are often found individually in nests of other ant species and on disturbance tend to curl into a tight ball. Colonies occur under stones in stony pastures and in open woodland and may consist of several hundred workers with several queens and often including intermediate forms between worker and queen. This species is mainly scavenging and does not attend aphids. Alatae are developed during late summer and have been taken outside nests from August to October.