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 ...
, sometimes invasive,
ant
Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...
of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''
Lasius
''Lasius'' is a genus of formicine ants. The type species for this genus is the black garden ant, ''Lasius niger''. Other major members, which live in drier heathland, are the cornfield ant, '' L. neoniger'', and '' L. alienus''. Other species i ...
''. The ant was identified in 1990 after establishing a colony in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary. Superficially, they are similar in appearance to the common black garden ant, ''
Lasius niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages
''Lasius neglectus'' is believed to be prey for several animals and insects, specifically ''
Clytra laeviuscula
''Clytra laeviuscula'', the ant bag beetle, is a species of short-horned leaf beetles belonging to the family Chrysomelidae, subfamily Cryptocephalinae.
Distribution
They are found in most of Europe, in the eastern part of the Palearctic realm, ...
'' and some
Picidae
Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. M ...
family birds.
Colonies
''Lasius neglectus'' occupies 'super colonies', systems of interconnected nests with many queens, estimated to be over 35,500 in some colonies. The queens, instead of moving to a new nest to start a new colony, will mate within the existing colony. Unlike most ant species, queens mate underground and are incapable of flight. As the occupants of these colonies are related, they do not demonstrate territorial aggression.
''Lasius neglectus'' does not build elaborate nests, instead, the species usually nests under flat stones, in the topsoil under
leaf litter
Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent ...
and even in trash piles. In human habitats, ''L. neglectus'' tends to nest inside electrical devices. Like other invasive ant species, ''L. neglectus'' relies on honeydew for its main food source and, but for a single instance in a grassland without trees in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
, known food sources come exclusively from insect prey and honeydew-producing insects on trees.
Social immunity
''L. neglectus'' was the first ant species to be observed performing "destructive disinfection" to their brood, wherein tending ants find pupae infected with ''
Metarhizium brunneum
''Metarhizium brunneum'', is the re-instated
name of a group of reassigned ''Metarhizium'' isolates, previously grouped in the species "''Metarhizium anisopliae'' var. ''anisopliae''": based on a multigene phylogenetic approach using near-comple ...
cuticle
A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...
of the
pupa
A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...
and spray it with
antiseptic
An antiseptic (from Greek ἀντί ''anti'', "against" and σηπτικός ''sēptikos'', "putrefactive") is an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putre ...
poison to kill both the pupa and the fungus. While getting rid of the parasitic fungi, colonies are exposed to the ''Metahizium'' species. Sometimes, this leads to a protective
immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity desc ...
to future low-level exposures to this fungi for the surviving colony members.
As pests
''Lasius neglectus'' can outnumber native European varieties of ant by 10 to 100 times in infested gardens and, as such, has been considered a pest in many central European countries. The species has spread as far as
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
in Germany,
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
in Belgium and
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
in Poland. A colony has been reported in
Hidcote Bartrim
Hidcote Bartrim is a hamlet (place), hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ebrington, Gloucestershire, Ebrington, in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. The nearest town is Chipping Campden, whi ...
,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
in England, where it demonstrates an affinity for outdoor electrical fittings where it may constitute a fire risk.
Similar to many other invasive species, ''L. neglectus'' has so far only been found to infest disturbed urban habitats such as parks and gardens, where it eradicates most native ants and other insect populations while damaging trees because of the massive
aphid
Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...
cultures that it maintains. Whereas most other known pest ants require warm temperatures to thrive, ''L. neglectus'' can survive winters with extended frost periods, so that further dispersal into temperate climatic zones seems unavoidable.
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
has been suggested as the most likely region of origin of ''L. neglectus'' as it co-occurs here with its non-invasive sister-species '' L. turcicus''.
The species has been proposed as a candidate to become a similar problem to the
Argentine ant
The Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), 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 clim ...