Population genetics of Formica ants

Population genetics of the black ant Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65, FIN-00014, Helsinki, Finland Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK Department of Biology and Environmental Science, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK Finnish Environment Institute, Research Department, P...

Genetic population structure and dispersal patterns in Formica ants — a review

Human impact on boreal forests has been extensive during a fairly short evolutionary time scale. Character species of boreal forests, such as Formica ants, may face loss of genetic diversity, increasing inbreeding, and decreasing gene flow among extant habitat fragments owing to habitat loss and fragmentation. Here we review the genetic data on old-world boreal species of the genus Formica. In ...

Kinship and confl icts over male production in Formica ants

Learning walks and landmark guidance in wood ants (Formica rufa)

We have examined a behaviour pattern in wood ants which in some respects resembles and in other respects differs from the learning flights of bees and wasps. Wood ants returning to their nest from a newly discovered food source turn back and look at landmarks near to the feeder, but the feeder itself does not attract sustained fixations. The frequency of landmark inspections is highest when the...

Incomplete Homogenization of Chemical Recognition Labels Between Formica sanguinea and Formica rufa Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Living in a Mixed Colony

Formica sanguinea Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is a slave-making species, i.e., it raids colonies of host species and pillages pupae, which are taken to develop into adult workers in a parasite colony. However, it has been unclear if the coexistence of F. sanguinea with slave workers requires uniformity of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), among which those other than n-alkanes are believed...