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1 August 2002 BEHAVIORAL NOTES AND REDESCRIPTION OF THE SOCIALLY PARASITIC ANT MYRMICA LUTEOLA (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)
Keiichi Masuko, Mamoru Terayama
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

We detail behavior for the queen of the socially parasitic ant Myrmica luteola Kupyanskaya, and describe the worker, queen, and male. In the laboratory, a M. luteola queen actively invaded a nest of Manica yessensis and consistently rubbed against M. yessensis workers. Further, morphological characteristics that often occur in socially parasitic ants, i.e., short tibial spurs and ventral lobes on the petiole and post-petiole, occur in the queen and workers of M. luteola. The queen is also characterized by a small size (smaller than the worker) and greatly reduced propodeal spines. The observed behavior and morphology strongly suggest that Myrmica luteola is a temporary social parasite.

Keiichi Masuko and Mamoru Terayama "BEHAVIORAL NOTES AND REDESCRIPTION OF THE SOCIALLY PARASITIC ANT MYRMICA LUTEOLA (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)," Journal of the New York Entomological Society 110(2), 224-233, (1 August 2002). https://doi.org/10.1664/0028-7199(2002)110[0224:BNAROT]2.0.CO;2
Received: 25 August 2001; Accepted: 1 July 2002; Published: 1 August 2002
KEYWORDS
Formicidae
Hymenoptera
Japan
Manica yessensis
Myrmica luteola
social parasite
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