Forum Entomologi Italiani

12mm

Mi pare un Formicidae. Dalla testa piccola direi maschio.

Formica (Serviformica) sp., maschio.

Le due specie più probabili sono F. cunicularia e F. cinerea.

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Vade ad formicam...

Thank You !

You probably read Collingwood, 1979, The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark.

Yes: if there are no hairs on the gula (but you need to do a good observation of it, I'm not sure on this image) it is more probably F. cunicularia (also the most common Formica species in Italy and one of the most common Formicidae at all). Surely the first candidate!

The restriction to F. cunicularia and F. cinerea as the most probable species is due to considerations about the place: at a seaside in northern Italy, pratically at 0 m s.l.m., they are almost the only 2 possibilities. Other Serviformica species occur (at the italian latitude) only in wooded environment (F. fusca, F. gagates) or in alpine environment (F. lemani, F. fuscocinerea, F. rufibarbis, F. selysi). The only other possible species for a seaside place in Veneto is F. clara but it has a very uncertain distribution in northern Italy and it is however not so common as cunicularia and cinerea.

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Vade ad formicam...

Thanks a lot for a detailed explanation.