Summary
The speciesFormica aquilonia andF. lugubris of the mound-building red wood ants have a disjunct boreoalpine distribution in Europe. The populations ofF. aquilonia in Finland, Switzerland and the British Isles show little genetic differentiation, whereas the populations ofF. lugubris show considerable differentiation. The Central European populations morphologically identified asF. lugubris can be genetically divided into two groups (here called types A and B). Type B is found in the Alps and the Jura mountains, and is genetically inseparable fromF. aquilonia. Type A lives sympatrically with type B in the Jura mountains and is also found in the British Isles. Sympatry of the two types in the Jura shows that these are separate species. It remains open whether type B is morphologically atypicalF. aquilonia or whether it is a separate species, perhaps with a past history of introgression betweenF. aquilonia andF. lugubris. The gene frequencies in the Finnish populations ofF. lugubris differ from those of both types A and B. Genetic differences withinF. lugubris indicate that the populations have evolved separately for a long time. The social structure ofF. lugubris colonies also shows geographic variation. The nests in Finland and the British Isles seem to be mainly monogynous and monodomous, whereas the nests in Central Europe are polygynous and form polydomous colonies.F. aquilonia has polygynous and polydomous colonies in all populations studied.
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Pamilo, P., Chautems, D. & Cherix, D. Genetic differentiation of disjunct populations of the antsFormica aquilonia andFormica lugubris in Europe. Ins. Soc 39, 15–29 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01240528
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01240528