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Erratic Ant
The erratic ant (''Tapinoma erraticum'') is a species of dolichoderine ant first described in 1789 by Latreille. This species ranges throughout Central Europe from the mountains of south Italy to north Germany. It is present in coastal areas of Southern England and on the islands of Gotland and Öland in Sweden. A thermophilic species, ''T. erraticum'' is found principally on dry heathland, exposed to the sun. The workers are very agile, and are usually only seen when the sun is shining, and the species can easily be distinguished from superficially similar species (e.g. ''Lasius niger'') by its tendency to hold its gaster almost vertically when moving. Horace Donisthorpe commented: "When the sun is obscured these ants immediately disappear, and on cold and cloudy days very few specimens are to be found away from the nest." Colonies are usually small, although larger colonies occasionally occur. Donisthorpe records having found a particularly large colony in Weybridge on July ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre André Latreille
Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom after recognising a rare beetle species he found in the prison, ''Necrobia ruficollis''. He published his first important work in 1796 (), and was eventually employed by the . His foresighted work on arthropod systematics and taxonomy gained him respect and accolades, including being asked to write the volume on arthropods for George Cuvier's monumental work, , the only part not by Cuvier himself. Latreille was considered the foremost entomologist of his time, and was described by one of his pupils as "the prince of entomologists". Biography Early life Pierre André Latreille was born on 29 November 1762 in the town of Brive, then in the province of Limousin, as the illegitimate child of Jean Joseph Sahuguet d'Amarzit, général ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lasius Niger
) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesRépublique du Niger, "Loi n° 2001-037 du 31 décembre 2001 fixant les modalités de promotion et de développement des langues nationales." L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde (accessed 21 September 2016) , languages = , religion_ref = , religion_year = 2012 , religion = , demonym = Nigerien , capital = , coordinates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapinoma
''Tapinoma'' (from Greek ''ταπείνωμα'' low position) is a genus of ants that belongs to the subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus currently comprises 74 described species distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate regions. Members of are generalized foragers, nesting in a wide variety of habitats, ranging from grasslands, open fields, woodlands, to inside buildings. The majority of species nest in the ground under objects such as stones or tree logs, other species build nests under bark of logs and stumps, in plant cavities, insect galls or refuse piles. Species *'' Tapinoma aberrans'' (Santschi, 1911) *'' Tapinoma acuminatum'' Forel, 1907 *'' Tapinoma albinase'' (Forel, 1910) *'' Tapinoma albomaculatum'' (Karavaiev, 1926) *'' Tapinoma amazone'' Wheeler, 1934 *'' Tapinoma andamanense'' Forel, 1903 *'' Tapinoma annandalei'' (Wheeler, 1928) *'' Tapinoma antarcticum'' Forel, 1904 *'' Tapinoma arnoldi'' Forel, 1913 *'' Tapinoma atriceps'' Emery, 1888 *†'' Tapinoma bacu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuptial Flight
Nuptial flight is an important phase in the reproduction of most ant, termite, and some bee species. It is also observed in some fly species, such as ''Rhamphomyia longicauda''. During the flight, virgin queens mate with males and then land to start a new colony, or, in the case of honey bees, continue the succession of an existing hived colony. The winged version of ants and termites are known as alates. Before the flight A mature ant colony seasonally produces winged virgin queens and males, called alates. Unfertilized eggs develop into males. Fertilized eggs usually develop into wingless, sterile workers, but may develop into virgin queens if the larvae receive special attention. Within a few days after they have emerged (eclosed) from the pupa case, males are "quickly converted into single-purpose sexual missiles." Young queens and males stay in their parent colony until conditions are right for the nuptial flight. The flight requires clear weather since rain is disrup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solarium (myrmecology)
In myrmecology, a solarium is an earthen structure constructed by certain members of the Formicidae for the purpose of brood incubation. Solaria are usually dome-shaped and fashioned from a paper-thin layer of soil, connected to the main nest by way of subterranean runs. '' Tapinoma erraticum'' is an example of a solaria-constructing species whose skill at so doing was noted by Horace Donisthorpe Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (17 March 1870 – 22 April 1951) was an eccentric British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus ''Lasius'' after him as ''Donisthorpea ... in the early 20th century in his book '' British Ants, their Life Histories and Classification''. Myrmecology Shelters built or used by animals {{Ant-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polygynous
Polygyny (; from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); ) is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women. Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any other continent. Some scholars see the slave trade's impact on the male-to-female sex ratio as a key factor in the emergence and fortification of polygynous practices in regions of Africa. Polygyny is most common in a region known as the "polygamy belt" in West Africa and Central Africa, with the countries estimated to have the highest polygamy prevalence in the world being Burkina Faso, Mali, Gambia, Niger and Nigeria. In the region of sub-Saharan Africa, polygyny is common and deeply rooted in the culture, with 11% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa living in such marriages (25% of the Muslim population and 3% of the Christian population, as of 2019). Polygyny is especially widespread in West Africa, with the countries estimated to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dealate
Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form of a social insect, especially ants or termites, though can also be applied to aphids and some thrips. An alate is a winged reproductive caste from a social insect colony in its winged form. Alate females are typically those destined to become gynes (queens), whereas alate males are occasionally referred to as "drones" (or "kings", in the case of termites). Their common behavioural function is starting a new colony, to expand their mother colonies etc. Colonies of termites and ants produce alates. It is a flight-based form of reproductive technique. In a termite colony, alates (winged males and winged females) disperse in a specific period or a month. Male and female pair to each other during flight, shed their wings, and start a new colo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the River Wey, which flows into the River Thames to the north of the town centre. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Bronze Age. During the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods, Weybridge was held by Chertsey Abbey. In the 1530s, Henry VIII constructed Oatlands Palace to the north of the town centre, which he intended to be the residence of his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. He married Catherine Howard there in July 1540 and the palace remained a royal residence until the Civil War. The buildings were demolished in the early 1650s and a new mansion, Oatlands House, was constructed to the east of Weybridge later the same century. Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany owned the mansion in the 18th century. The town began to ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horace Donisthorpe
Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe (17 March 1870 – 22 April 1951) was an eccentric United Kingdom, British myrmecologist and coleopterist, memorable in part for his enthusiastic championing of the renaming of the genus ''Lasius'' after him as ''Donisthorpea'', and for his many claims of discovering new species of beetles and ants. Biography Educated at Mill Hill House, Leicester, and Oakham School, Donisthorpe went to Heidelberg University to read medicine. However, his "too sensitive nature" forced him to give up this career. Being possessed of a private income, from about 1890 he devoted his life to the study of beetles and ants, publishing more than three hundred papers on ants alone. Derek Wragge Morley says in his obituary of Donisthorpe in ''Nature (journal), Nature'', that he related a story of how, when a young man, he had swum across the Rhine at Heidelberg, "a feat which, so it was said, no one had achieved before". Probably the best known of his collecting grounds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heathland
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler and damper climate. Heaths are widespread worldwide but are fast disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe. They form extensive and highly diverse communities across Australia in humid and sub-humid areas where fire regimes with recurring burning are required for the maintenance of the heathlands.Specht, R.L. 'Heathlands' in 'Australian Vegetation' R.H. Groves ed. Cambridge University Press 1988 Even more diverse though less widespread heath communities occur in Southern Africa. Extensive heath communities can also be found in the Texas chaparral, New Caledonia, central Chile, and along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. In addition to these extensive heath areas, the vegetation type is also found in scattered locations acro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolichoderinae
Dolichoderinae is a subfamily of ants, which includes species such as the Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), the erratic ant, the odorous house ant, and the cone ant. The subfamily presents a great diversity of species throughout the world, distributed in different biogeographic realms, from the Palearctic, Nearctic, Afrotropical region and Malaysia, to the Middle East, Australian, and Neotropical regions. This subfamily is distinguished by having a single petiole (no post-petiole) and a slit-like orifice, from which chemical compounds are released. Dolichoderine ants do not possess a sting, unlike ants in some other subfamilies, such as Ponerinae and Myrmicinae, instead relying on the chemical defensive compounds produced from the anal gland. Of the compounds produced by dolichoderine ants, several terpenoids were identified including the previously unknown iridomyrmecin, isoiridomyrmecin, and iridodial. Such compounds are responsible for the smell given off by ants of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, Finland to the east, and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridgetunnel across the Öresund. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic country, the third-largest country in the European Union, and the fifth-largest country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Stockholm. Sweden has a total population of 10.5 million, and a low population density of , with around 87% of Swedes residing in urban areas in the central and southern half of the country. Sweden has a nature dominated by forests and a large amount of lakes, including some of the largest in Europe. Many long rivers run from the Scandes range through the landscape, primarily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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