Swiss ant list

I visited Switzerland in June 2009 and have started to work through the specimens collected. This list will grow over the next few months and I'll try to get some photographs of the more interesting species up.

Dolichoderinae
     Tapinoma
          erraticum
Formicinae
     Camponotus
          herculeanus
          ligniperda
          piceus
     Formica
          fusca
          lemani
          lugubris
          paralugubris
          pressilabris
          sanguinea
     Lasius
          brunneus
          emaginatus
          flavus
          fuliginosus
          platythorax
Myrmicinae
     Aphaenogaster
          subterranea
     Manica
          rubida
     Myrmecina
          graminicola
     Myrmica
          lobulicornis
          myrmicoxena
          rubra
          ruginodis
          schencki
          sulcinodis
     Solenopsis
          fugax
     Temnothorax
          nylanderi
          parvulus
          tuberum
     Tetramorium
          sp. A ¹

---

¹ See: Schlick-Steiner & al. (2006). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40: 259-273.

German ant collections

Another place visited; another list of ants collected. This time the area covered is a small part of Bavaria, as a result of a visit to the University of Regensburg. This list will develop over the next few weeks, as I have numerous specimens to look at. Once I have identified everthing I will send a full list of the records to the university and to any other interested parties.

It is possible to accurately identify some of the species listed in the field, so not all were actually collected. Some of them were collected by Marion Füßl, who found many species before I did and thus proved to be a very useful person to have around! Others were collected with a group of researchers from the university, who very kindly spent their public holiday showing me around. Yet more were collected by Christiane Wanke over the past few years and passed to me to identify.

Though I was not aiming specifically to collect rare species, the letters in red relate to species the German Red Data List (from: Seifert, 2007).

Dolichoderinae
     Dolichoderus
          quadripuntatus ^RLD3
Formicinae
     Camponotus
          ligniperda
     Formica
          cunicularia
          fusca
          pratensis
          rufa
          rufibarbis
          sanguinea
     Lasius
          alienus
          brunneus ¹
          emarginatus
          flavus
          fuliginosus
          niger
          platythorax
     Plagiolepis
          vindobonensis ^RLD2
Myrmicinae
     Leptothorax
          acervorum
     Myrmecina
          graminicola
     Myrmica
          lobicornis ^RLD3
          rubra
          ruginodis
          rugulosa
          sabuleti
          scabrinodis
          schencki ^RLD3
          specioides ^RLD3
     Solenopsis
          fugax ^RLD3
     Stenamma
          debile
     Tapinoma
          erraticum ^RLD3
     Temnothorax
          affinis
          corticalis ^RLD2
          crassispinus
          interruptus ^RLD3
          parvulus ^RLD3
          saxonicus ^RLD2
          tuberum ^RLD2
          unifasciatus
     Tetramorium
          impurum

---

¹ Colony found containing the myrmecophilous woodlouse Platyarthrus hoffmannseggi.

Miscellaneous ant collections

The last of the boring but possibly useful lists.

This covers those counties where I only have a few species recorded or in my collection. Those from Ireland and Senegal were collected by me. My parents have been good enough to collect ants for me, including from Mallorca and Austria. Specimens collected by David M. King were passed to me for identification; these came from Italy, Kuwait, Macedonia, Qatar, Turkey and the Canary Isles (not yet included). Claes-Göran Magnusson sent me a specimen from Sweden. Finally, Sabine Frohschammer passed on a few specimens from a live colony she had collected in Malasia.

Austria

Formicinae
     Camponotus
          herculeanus
     Formica
          aquilonia
          cinerea
          exsecta
          lemani
          lugubris
          paralugubris
          sanguinea
     Lasius
          fuliginosus
          niger
          platythorax
Myrmicinae
     Leptothorax
          acervorum
     Manica
          rubida
     Myrmica
          lobulicornis
          rubra
          ruginodis
          scabrinodis
          sulcinodis
     Harpagoxenus
          sublaevis

Ireland

Formicinae
     Formica
          lemani
     Lasius
          flavus
          grandis ¹
          niger
Myrmicinae
     Myrmica
          ruginodis
          sabuleti
          scabrinodis
          schencki
     Tetramorium
          caespitum

Italy

Myrmicinae
     Aphaenogaster
          ionia

Kuwait

Myrmicinae
     Messor
          ebeninus
          minor
     Monomorium
          subcomae
     Pheidole
          teneriffana ²

Macedonia

Formicinae
     Cataglyphis
          aenescens

Malasia: Sarawak

Myrmicinae
     Monomorium
          floricola

Mallorca, Spain

Myrmicinae
     Crematogaster
          scutellaris
Dolichoderinae
     Linepithema
          humile ³

Qatar

Myrmicinae
     Monomorium
          tumaire

Senegal

Formicinae
     Camponotus
          sericeus
Myrmicinae
     Crematogaster
          senegalensis
Ponerinae
     Pachycondyla
          sennaarensis

Sweden

Formicinae
     Lasius
          umbratus

Turkey

Formicinae
     Cataglyphis
          nodus
Myrmicinae
     Aphaenogaster
          ionia
     Messor
          caducus
          denticulatus
     Pheidole
          pallidula
Dolichoderinae
     Tapinoma
          festae

---

¹ I know this seems unlikely, but it's the best fit. I've had a paper half written for two years now. My problem is that I can't make my head measurements match those of Seifert's - on any Lasius. I've spoken to others and this is not a problem restricted to me! Oh, and Ireland also has L. psammophilus, with no evidence for L. alienus.
² Introduced.
³ Introduced and apparently one of the dominant species on Mallorca now: my parents only collected the two species above, despite searching hard.

Australian ant collections

This is the most incomplete of the lists I'm going to present. There are two main reasons for this: the taxonomy of the Australian ant fauna is incredibly difficult, making identification hard, and I was interrupted by my work on the Gambian fauna. Eventually I will get back to these collections.

They are the result of my attendance on the Ant Course 2006, plus an extra week that I stayed. This was held at James Cook University (JCU) Cairns Campus. If you are interested in ants then I can't recommend the Ant Course strongly enough.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Australian ant fauna is quite special. Groups that are rare elsewhere, such as Iridomyrmex and Polyrhachis have diversified into many different forms. Others, such as Leptomyrmex, Turneria, Melophorus and the famous bulldog ants Myrmecia are limited to the Australasian region. I should also make mention of possibly the most famous Australian ant, Nothomyrmecia macrops.

There is a lot of work still to be done on these specimens. Iridomyrmex, Camponotus, Polyrhachis, Crematogaster and Pheidole are all common and diverse in Australia, so I collected a lot of different species. A key now exists for Camponotus, but I've only just started trying to sort through all the specimens I have. Iridomyrmex in particular is well-nigh impossible, as there are many species that differ very little. Many of the smaller groups also lack keys, so identification is not easy.

For further coverage check Australian Ants Online.

I should say that the specimens actually belong to JCU and that I have them as part of a loan to Cardiff Museum. Once I've finished with them they will go to Cardiff or back to JCU.

Aenictinae
     Aenictus
          aratus
Cerapachyinae
     Cerapachys
Dolichoderinae
     Anonychomyrma
     Iridomyrmex
     Leptomyrmex
          unicolor
          varians subsp. ruficeps
     Ochetellus
     Tapinoma
          melanocephalum ¹
          minutum
     Technomyrmex
          albipes
     Turneria
          bidentata ²
Ectatomminae
     Rhytidoponera
Formicinae
     Acropyga
     Calomyrmex
     Camponotus
          aeneopilosus
          dromas
          vitreus
     Echinopla
          australis
     Melophorus
     Oecophylla
          smaragdina
     Opisthopsis
          haddoni
          jocosus
          pictus subsp. bimaculatus
     Paratrechina
     Polyrhachis
Myrmeciinae
     Myrmecia
Myrmicinae
     Cardiocondyla
          nuda ³
     Crematogaster
     Mayriella
          overbecki ⁴
     Meranoplus
          ajax
          hirsutus
     Monomorium
          fieldi
          laeve
          pharaonis ⁵
     Pheidole
     Podomyrma
     Rhoptromyrmex
          wroughtoni sp. 1
          wroughtoni sp. 2⁶
     Tetramorium
          deceptum
          lanuginosum ³
          simillimum ³
     Wasmannia
          auropunctata ⁷
Ponerinae
     Hypoponera
     Leptogenys
     Myopias
          tenuis
     Odontomachus
     Pachycondyla
Pseudomyrmecinae
     Tetraponera
          punctulata

---

¹ Introduced and collected in many situations, from wash-blocks to rainforest.
² I only collected one specimen of this rarity, which is usually found in the canopy. I found it on my clothes in the room I was staying in at (JCU) Cairns Campus. I suspect that someone had shaken the tree it was on as I was beneath.
³ Introduced.
⁴ A bit of a rarity, especially in Queensland, where it is otherwise unknown (Shattuck & Barnett, 2007).
⁵ Introduced, found once crawling across the desk in the room I was staying in at JCU.
⁶ Considered to be rare, but I found it frequently enough in the rainforest that by the time I left I could recognise it on sight. Following a chat with Barry Bolton (who last reviewed the genus), I feel confident in saying that what I have belongs to two species.
⁷ Introduced around Cairns and apparently presenting quite a serious threat. Found abundantly in one place near JCU.

French ant collections

This list of ants in my collection was the result of a two week 'holiday' in the Dordogne and Massif Central areas of France. It was the first time I had ever collected ants outside of the UK and forecast the end of 'normal' holidays for me!

More information on the ants of France can be found at Fourmis, the French ant forum.

Dolichoderinae
     Dolichoderus
          quadripunctatus
     Tapinoma
          erraticum
Formicinae
     Camponotus
          aethiops
          cruentatus
          fallax
          gestroi ¹
          lateralis
          ligniperda
          piceus
          trunctatus
          vagus
     Cataglyphis
          cursor
     Formica
          fusca
          gagates
          pratensis
          rufa
          rufibarbis
     Lasius
          alienus
          brunneus
          emaginatus
          flavus
          fuliginosus
          grandis ²
          niger
          platythorax
          psammophilus
     Plagiolepis
          pygmaea
Myrmicinae
     Crematogaster
          scutellaris
     Messor
          structor
     Myrmica
          sabuleti
          scabrinodis
     Pheidole
          megacephala ³
          pallidula
     Temnothorax
          grouvellei
          nylanderi
          racovitzai
          unifasciatus
     Tetramorium
          caespitum

---

¹ Two alate queens, one found in the Salignac-Eyvigues, Dordogne, the other on Causse Noir in the Massif Central. The latter was found in association with C. lateralis. This species is not supposed to occur in mainland France, but after a lot of debate they were eventually confirmed by Cedric Collingwood.
² A rarely recorded species in France. This collection was from the edge of a woodland near Nant, Massif Central. This has also been confirmed by Cedric Collingwood and matches the morphometrics given in Seifert (1992).
³ An introduced species in France, found alongside P. pallidula on the château walls at Castelnaud, Dordogne.

UK ant collections

The other day I had a request from Professor James K. Wetterer at Florida Atlantic University. He had seen the invasive species listed as present in The Gambia and wanted further details of those and others that I had collected.

This lead to two surprises. The first was that someone was paying attention and cared what I get up to. The second was the large number of invasive ants I have collected, despite few collection forays outside of the UK. It has, however, made me wonder if it's worth highlighting the other species that I have in my collection or have records for, in case they are of use to anyone.

I've decided to kick this off with the shortest and simplest list: the paltry fauna of the UK (I'm going to upset some British myrmecologists with this description, but it doesn't make it any less true). A complete list of the 67 native and regularly recorded introduced ants can be found in the checklist available on the BWARS website. The few species that I have in my collection are listed below.

Formicidae
     Formica
          cunicularia
          fusca
          lemani
          lugubris
          picea ¹
          rufa
     Lasius
          brunneus
          flavus
          fuliginosus
          niger
          platythorax
          psammophilus
          umbratus
Myrmicinae
     Formicoxenus
          nitidulus ²
     Leptothorax
          acervorum
     Myrmecina
          graminicola
     Myrmica
          lobicornis
          rubra
          ruginodis
          sabuleti
          scabrinodis
          schencki
          sulcinodis
     Technomyrmex
          albipes ³
     Temnothorax
          nylanderi
     Tetramorium
          caespitum

---

¹ Alate queen collected in Yorkshire. Despite a lot of searching no colonies have been located in the area.
² Two males collected by David Baldock.
³ Present only as a rare introduction, these specimens from the Eden Project.

Harmonia is overrated

Earlier this week I was in Dover, Kent and encountered my first harlequin ladybirds, Harmonia axyridis.

The surprising thing was that I hadn't already seen any. Since it first appeared in the UK in 2004 the species has spread at an incredible rate, and is now known from much of England and parts of Wales.

Because they are an invasive species that threaten the ladybirds native to the UK I collected as many as I could. On Thursday I took these into work not far from Bristol to show my colleagues what they should be looking out for, feeling a little smug that I could do this, until one of the people I work with, Jenna, mentioned that there were some in the window that were the same. She was absolutely right, they were harlequins as well.

As a result I scoured the office building, removing as many as I could find. This resulted in 28, to which I added a further 14 yesterday (Friday).

The question I guess I should ask myself, as an entomologist, is how did I miss these? The simple answer is complacency - I assumed that if they were in the area they would be pretty rare. Despite this I don't think we had any here last year, except perhaps for the odd one or two, so the speed at which they've become established is staggering.

I will continue to remove the ones that I find, but I think it's a lost cause. I think they're probably here to stay.

Sightings of the harlequin ladybird are being collected by the Harlequin Ladybird Survey, and can be submitted online.

Gambian ant list

My long-running, rather ambitious, spare-time project at the moment is to produce a synopsis of the ants of The Gambia, as very little is known about its ant fauna. This started off from collections made by myself in 2007, from which I still have a lot of unidentified Pheidole minors, but it seems unlikely that I will be able to identify these accurately. All parts of this list are open to change, as there are very few species where I think my identifications are indisputable.

The existing list of ants of The Gambia was part of the Ants of Africa website, with a few additional species included in a checklist produced by Emms and Barnett. In combination these lists included just 21 species.

I've also borrowed some ants from Oxford University Museum of Natural History, so I will be adding the genera and species included in this collection over the next few months, as they are identified. I would be very interested to hear of any other ant specimens collected from the Gambia.

The key to the resources used is as follows:

* = collected during this survey in 2007.
T = listed by Taylor.
E&B = listed by Emms and Barnett.
OUMNH = specimens in the collection at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, collected by D. J. Mann in 1997.
NB = specimens in the Collingwood collection, all collected by Nicolas Blacker.

Aenictinae
     Aenictus
          rotundatus subsp. guineensis*
Dolichoderinae
     Tapinoma
          luridum*
          luteum* (OUMNH)
          melanocephalum* ¹
          modestum*
Dorylinae
     Dorylus
          atriceps (T)
          attenuatus (T)
          rufescens (T)
          affinis* (T)
          fimbriatus (T; OUMNH)
          fulvus (OUMNH)
          fulvus subsp. glabratus (T)
Formicinae
     Camponotus
          flavomarginatus*
          furvus?*
          maculatus* (T)
          maynei*
          olivieri subsp. delagoensis*
          olivieri cf. subsp. lemma?*
          rufoglaucus cf. subsp. controversus?*
          sericeus* (T; E&B; OUMNH)
          solon*
          vestitus subsp. intuens*
          vividus* (T; NB): pseudogyne in Collingwood collection.
     Cataglyphis
          lividus (NB): unlikely, as it is not found elsewhere in Africa.
          oasium* (NB)
     Lepisiota
          capensis subsp. guineensis* (OUMNH)
          capensis subsp. laevis* (OUMNH)
     Oecophylla
          longinoda* (T; E&B)
          E&B also list smaragdina, but this is probably erroneous.
     Paratrechina
          longicornis*
     Plagiolepis
          mediorufa*
     Polyrhachis
          nigrita (OUMNH)
Myrmecinae
     Cardiocondyla
          emeryi*: a widespread tramp species.
     Cataulacus
          guineensis*
          traegaordhi*
     Crematogaster
          chiarinii subsp. taediosa (T)
          cf. excisa*
          gambiensis* (T)
          cf. impressa*
          impressa subsp. brazzai (T)
          juventa*
          senegalensis*
          wellmani (T)
     Monomorium
          afrum*
          bicolor* (T; OUMNH)
          dakarense*
          egens*
          exiguum*
          mictile*
          osiridis*
          rosae*
          vonatu*
     Nesomyrmex
          angulatus*
     Pheidole
          andrieui*
          punctulata*
          rugaticeps*
          sculpturata*
     Pyramica
          maynei*
     Tetramorium
          edouardi (OUMNH) ²
          sericeiventre* (T)
Ponerinae
     Odontomachus
          troglodytes*
     Pachycondyla
          brunoi (T)
          escherichi (NB)
          tarsata* (E&B)
          sennaarensis*
Pseudomyrmecinae
     Tetraponera
          continua*
          ambigua*

---

¹ See: Wetterer, J. K. 2008. Worldwide spread of the ghost ant Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 12: 23-33.
² Queen only. Quite clearly either T. edouardi or T. tersum, but matches the description of the queen of T. edourdi better than T. tersum (= kivuense).