The large blue is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. The species was first defined in 1758 and first recorded in Britain in 1795. In 1979 the species became extinct in Britain but has been successfully reintroduced with new conservation methods. Currently large blue is classified as "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Today P. arion can be found in Europe, the Caucasus, Armenia, western Siberia, Altai, north-western Kazakhstan and Sichuan.
Myrmica rubra, also known as the European fire ant or common red ant, is a species of ant of the genus Myrmica, found all over Europe and is now invasive in some parts of North America and Asia. It is mainly red in colour, with slightly darker pigmentation on the head. These ants live under stones and fallen trees, and in soil. They are aggressive, often attacking rather than running away, and are equipped with a sting, though they lack the ability to spray formic acid like the genus Formica.
Weaver ants or green ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae. Weaver ants live in trees and are known for their unique nest building behaviour where workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large consisting of more than a hundred nests spanning numerous trees and containing more than half a million workers. Like many other ant species, weaver ants prey on small insects and supplement their diet with carbohydrate-rich honeydew excreted by small insects (Hemiptera). Weaver ant workers exhibit a clear bimodal size distribution, with almost no overlap between the size of the minor and major workers. The major workers are approximately 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) in length and the minors approximately half the length of the majors. Major workers forage, defend, maintain, and expand the colony whereas minor workers tend to stay within the nests where they care for the brood and 'milk' scale insects in or close to the nests.
Phengaris alcon, the Alcon blue or Alcon large blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae and is found in Europe and across the Palearctic to Siberia and Mongolia.
Trap-jaw ants are a genus (Odontomachus) of omnivorous ants found in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world.
Ant mimicry or myrmecomorphy is mimicry of ants by other organisms. Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators that rely on vision to identify their prey, such as birds and wasps, normally avoid them, because they are either unpalatable or aggressive. Spiders are the most common ant mimics. Additionally, some arthropods mimic ants to escape predation, while others mimic ants anatomically and behaviourally to hunt ants in aggressive mimicry. Ant mimicry has existed almost as long as ants themselves; the earliest ant mimics in the fossil record appear in the mid Cretaceous alongside the earliest ants. Indeed one of the earliest, Burmomyrma, was initially classified as an ant.
Myrmica is a genus of ants within the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is widespread throughout the temperate regions of the Holarctic and high mountains in Southeast Asia.
Myrmica laevinodis is a species of ant that closely resembles M. kotokui, and is at times difficult to distinguish, due to variation in morphology and color in M. kotokui. The unraised rugae on the posterodorsal portion of the mesonotum are usually characteristic, though some M. kotokui workers have this character. It is best in the field to examine the body coloration of a number of workers from each colony. Also, M. rubra has fewer strong rugae, and is smoother on the lower half of the mesonotal pleura than M. kotokui; its propodeal spines are shorter, and the rugae on the anterior basal portion of the 1st gastral tergite are relatively weak and fewer in number. Although Japanese specimens differ morphologically from European M. rubra material, and resemble M. kotokui in petiolar morphology, the name Myrmica rubra is applied to them for the present. This species nests in the soil of grassland on seashores and lowlands. Rare in Japan.
Phengaris rebeli, common name mountain Alcon blue, is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It was first found and described in Styria, Austria, on Mount Hochschwab around 1700. Although it was initially classified as a subspecies of P. alcon, a European researcher, Lucien A. Berger, designated it as a separate species in 1946. Genetic similarities between P. rebeli and P. alcon have led many researchers to argue that the two are the same species and differences are due to intraspecific variation.
Formica sanguinea, or blood-red ant, is a species of facultative slave-maker ant in the genus Formica characterized by the ability to secrete formic acid. It ranges from Central and Northern Europe through Russia to Japan, China, the Korean Peninsula, Africa and also the United States. This species is coloured red and black with workers up to 7 mm long.
Solute carrier family 22, member 12, also known as SLC22A12 and URAT1, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the SLC22A12 gene.
The Argentine ant, formerly Iridomyrmex humilis, is an ant native to northern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil. It is an invasive species that has been established in many Mediterranean climate areas, inadvertently introduced by humans to many places, including South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Easter Island, Australia, Europe, Hawaii, and the continental United States.
Microdon mutabilis, is a species of hoverfly. It is found in many parts of Britain and Europe. The distinctive almost slug-like larvae live in ants' nests. They are hemispherical in shape, heavily armoured and believed to prey on the eggs and larvae of a number of ant species, including Formica lemani, Formica fusca, Lasius niger and Myrmica ruginodis. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Ochetellus glaber is a species of ant native to Australia. A member of the genus Ochetellus in the subfamily Dolichoderinae, it was described by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1862. Aside from Australia, O. glaber has been introduced to a number of countries, including China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States, where it has established itself in Hawaii and Florida. It has been found on Lord Howe Island, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Réunion and the Solomon Islands. Compared with other ants, O. glaber is a small species, with workers measuring 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in). Males are the smallest at 1.6 mm (0.063 in), while the queens measure 5.2–5.5 mm (0.20–0.22 in). The ant's colour ranges from brown to black.
Myrmica ruginodis is a species of ant that lives in northern parts of Europe and Asia. It is very similar to M. rubra, but has a more northerly and higher-altitude distribution. Overwintering larvae may become either workers or queen ants, with up to 20 queens living in a colony of up to 2,500 individuals. Two subspecies are recognised, differing in the relative size of the queen.
Carex pilulifera, the pill sedge, is a European species of sedge found in acid heaths, woods and grassland from Macaronesia to Scandinavia. It grows up to 30 cm (12 in) tall, with 2–4 female spikes and 1 male spike in an inflorescence. These stalks bend as the seeds ripen, and the seeds are collected and dispersed by ants of the species Myrmica ruginodis.
Myrmica scabrinodis scabrinodis is a subspecies of ant that can be found everywhere in Europe except for Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canary Islands, Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Monaco, Madeira, Monaco, San Marino, Slovenia, and Vatican City. It is unique in that it reproduces by ejecting pheromones from its postpetiole directly into the mandibles of its mate. Female ants of this species can also reproduce through thelytokous parthenogenesis, but, unlike most ant species during this process, the individual will rupture the membrane of the gaster, causing a burst of secretions containing their offspring in addition to acetophenones and other chemicals.
Myrmica schencki is a species of ant in the genus Myrmica.
Rickia wasmannii is a species of the widely distributed entomoparasitic order of fungi Laboulbeniales. It is an obligatory ectoparasite of ants of the genus Myrmica. The thalli penetrate outer layer of the cuticle, and appear on the host body surface. Little is known about its effect on the host ant, but it is usually regarded as a rather neutral symbiont. Contrarily, however, a recent study has documented an increased need of drinking water and a shortened life-span of infected ants.
