More Mixed Colonies in Ants

Authors

R. L. King, State University of IowaFollow
R. M. Sallee, Western Illinois State CollegeFollow

Document Type

Research

Abstract

At the meeting of the Academy two years ago (King, '49) nine mixed colonies of ants containing Formica reflexa and Formica fusca were reported. Seven of these had failed to survive the winter following their discovery; of the other two, found in 1948, only one survived the winter of 48-49 and contained only F. reflexa in 1949. This pure colony of F. reflexa, the only one ever reported, was deserted by the early summer of 1950. Two new mixed colonies were found in 1949 near the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, Dickinson County, Iowa: only one of these survived the winter of 49-50; during the summer of 1950 it was still mixed. The rarity of pure colonies of this species tends to confirm the suggestion of Buren ('42) that F. reflexa is a permanent social parasite on Formica fusca.

Publication Date

1951

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

58

Issue

1

First Page

487

Last Page

489

Copyright

©1951 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

King, R. L. and Sallee, R. M. (1951) "More Mixed Colonies in Ants," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 58(1), 487-489.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol58/iss1/62