Myrmecol. News 11: 49-52; printable
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_011:049
- Open Access: CC BY 4.0
- Year: 2008
- Title: Ecology, colony structure, and conservation biology of Formica (Coptoformica) foreli Bondroit, 1918 in Bavaria, Germany (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
- Journal: Myrmecological News
- Volume: 11
- Pages: 49-52
- Type of contribution: Original Article
- Supplementary material: No
- Abstract: The first record of Formica foreli Bondroit, 1918 in Bavaria, of 2005, is described. It is the 20th location publishedof this species in Germany. The unpublished data bank of B. Seifert (pers. comm. 2007) contains 87 entries from about60 localities in Germany, 37 records made after 1999. The first Bavarian locality is north of Regensburg in theFranconian Jura on limestone. The habitat is an abandoned calcareous grassland with surrounding shrubs and pines,some nests (21) were also found on an adjoining abandoned field. In 2006, 94 nests were counted on 1325 m2, themajority of them (73) on the calcareous grassland. Nests on the calcareous grassland were smaller and closer to eachother than those on the abandoned field. Two hypotheses to explain this difference are discussed: (1) A possibly larger foodsupply on the abandoned field allows larger nests to be formed that are further apart from each other. This is based ondata on F. pressilabris Nylander, 1846. (2) A possibly enemy-free (ant-free) space in the abandoned field allowsspreading and forming of large nests. The observed nest- and colony-structure in Bavaria is compared to that of otherGerman localities and some general features are summarized.
- Key words: Ants, Coptoformica, Formica foreli, conservation, colony structure, calcareous grassland.
- Publisher: The Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics
- ISSN: Print: 1994-4136 - Online: 1997-3500