Lasius neglectus

Lasius neglectus occupies 'super colonies', systems of interconnected nests with many queens, estimated to be over 35,500 in some colonies.{{cite journal |author=X.Espadaler |author2=S.Rey |author3=V.Bernal |year=2004 |title=Queen number in a supercolony of the invasive garden ant, Lasius neglectus |journal=Insectes Sociaux |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=232 |url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16056480 |doi=10.1007/s00040-003-0732-y |s2cid=40937458 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=May 31, 2012 |access-date=December 3, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531133042/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16056480 |url-status=dead }} The queens, instead of moving to a new nest to start a new colony, will mate within the existing colony.{{cite web |author=Louise Gray |title=Invasive foreign ant could be heading to Britain |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/3542574/Invasive-foreign-ant-could-be-heading-to-Britain.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205074105/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/3542574/Invasive-foreign-ant-could-be-heading-to-Britain.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 2008 |date=December 2, 2008 |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=August 1, 2009}} 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 and even in trash piles. In human habitats, L. neglectus tends to nest inside electrical devices.{{Cite journal | last1 = Paris | first1 = C. | last2 = Espadaler | first2 = X. | doi = 10.1155/2012/261316 | title = Foraging Activity of Native Ants on Trees in Forest Fragments Colonized by the Invasive Ant Lasius neglectus | journal = Psyche: A Journal of Entomology | volume = 2012 | pages = 1–9 | year = 2012 | doi-access = free }} 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, known food sources come exclusively from insect prey and honeydew-producing insects on trees.

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, a parasitic fungus. The tending ants then bite into the cuticle of the pupa and spray it with antiseptic poison to kill both the pupa and the fungus.{{Cite journal|last1=Pull|first1=Christopher D|last2=Ugelvig|first2=Line V|last3=Wiesenhofer|first3=Florian|last4=Grasse|first4=Anna V|last5=Tragust|first5=Simon|last6=Schmitt|first6=Thomas|last7=Brown|first7=Mark JF|last8=Cremer|first8=Sylvia|date=2018-01-09|editor-last=Tautz|editor-first=Diethard|title=Destructive disinfection of infected brood prevents systemic disease spread in ant colonies|journal=eLife|volume=7|pages=e32073|doi=10.7554/eLife.32073|pmid=29310753|pmc=5760203|issn=2050-084X|doi-access=free}} While getting rid of the parasitic fungi, colonies are exposed to the Metahizium species. Sometimes, this leads to a protective immunity to future low-level exposures to this fungi for the surviving colony members.{{Cite journal|title=Social Transfer of Pathogenic Fungus Promotes Active Immunisation in Ant Colonies|last=Konrad, Matthias Vyleta, Meghan L. Theis, Fabian J. Stock, Miriam Tragust, Simon Klatt, Martina Drescher, Verena Marr, Carsten Ugelvig, Line V. Cremer, Sylvia|journal=PLOS Biology|date=April 2012|volume=10|issue=4|pages=e1001300|publisher=Public Library of Science|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001300|pmid=22509134|pmc=3317912|oclc=841451730 |doi-access=free }}

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.{{cite web |title=Lasius neglectus – pest status |author=Xavier Espadaler and Víctor Bernal |url=http://www.creaf.uab.cat/xeg/lasius/Ingles/peststatus.htm |date= May 11, 2006 |publisher=Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals |access-date=August 1, 2009}}{{cite web |author=James Randerson |title='Super ants' threaten UK gardens, scientists warn |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/dec/03/super-ants-invade-uk-wildlife-gardens |date=December 3, 2008 |work=The Guardian |access-date=August 1, 2009}} The species has spread as far as Jena in Germany, Ghent in Belgium and Warsaw in Poland.{{cite web |title=Lasius neglectus – distribution |author=Xavier Espadaler and Víctor Bernal |url=http://www.creaf.uab.cat/xeg/lasius/Ingles/distribution.htm |date=July 24, 2009 |publisher=Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals |access-date=August 1, 2009}} A colony has been reported in Hidcote Bartrim, Gloucestershire in England, where it demonstrates an affinity for outdoor electrical fittings where it may constitute a fire risk.{{cite web |title=National Trust property test site for super ant pest control|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/6350077/National-Trust-property-test-site-for-super-ant-pest-control.html |date=December 27, 2018|publisher=Daily Telegraph |access-date=December 27, 2018}}

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 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 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.{{Cite journal | last1 = Cremer | first1 = S. | last2 = Ugelvig | first2 = L. V. | last3 = Drijfhout | first3 = F. P. | last4 = Schlick-Steiner | first4 = B. C. | last5 = Steiner | first5 = F. M. | last6 = Seifert | first6 = B. | last7 = Hughes | first7 = D. P. | last8 = Schulz | first8 = A. | last9 = Petersen | first9 = K. S. | last10 = Konrad | first10 = H. | last11 = Stauffer | first11 = C. | last12 = Kiran | first12 = K. | last13 = Espadaler | first13 = X. | last14 = d'Ettorre | first14 = P. | last15 = Aktaç | first15 = N. | last16 = Eilenberg | first16 = J. R. | last17 = Jones | first17 = G. R. | last18 = Nash | first18 = D. R. | last19 = Pedersen | first19 = J. S. | last20 = Boomsma | first20 = J. J. | editor1-last = Svensson | editor1-first = Erik I | title = The Evolution of Invasiveness in Garden Ants | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0003838 | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 3 | issue = 12 | pages = e3838 | year = 2008 | pmid = 19050762| pmc =2585788 | bibcode = 2008PLoSO...3.3838C | doi-access = free }}

The species has been proposed as a candidate to become a similar problem to the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile).

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{OA-attribution| {{Cite journal | last1 = Cremer | first1 = S. | last2 = Ugelvig | first2 = L. V. | last3 = Drijfhout | first3 = F. P. | last4 = Schlick-Steiner | first4 = B. C. | last5 = Steiner | first5 = F. M. | last6 = Seifert | first6 = B. | last7 = Hughes | first7 = D. P. | last8 = Schulz | first8 = A. | last9 = Petersen | first9 = K. S. | last10 = Konrad | first10 = H. | last11 = Stauffer | first11 = C. | last12 = Kiran | first12 = K. | last13 = Espadaler | first13 = X. | last14 = d'Ettorre | first14 = P. | last15 = Aktaç | first15 = N. | last16 = Eilenberg | first16 = J. R. | last17 = Jones | first17 = G. R. | last18 = Nash | first18 = D. R. | last19 = Pedersen | first19 = J. S. | last20 = Boomsma | first20 = J. J. | editor1-last = Svensson | editor1-first = Erik I | title = The Evolution of Invasiveness in Garden Ants | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0003838 | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 3 | issue = 12 | pages = e3838 | year = 2008 | pmid = 19050762| pmc =2585788 | bibcode = 2008PLoSO...3.3838C | doi-access = free }} }}
• {{OA-attribution| {{Cite journal | last1 = Paris | first1 = C. | last2 = Espadaler | first2 = X. | doi = 10.1155/2012/261316 | title = Foraging Activity of Native Ants on Trees in Forest Fragments Colonized by the Invasive Ant Lasius neglectus | journal = Psyche: A Journal of Entomology | volume = 2012 | pages = 1–9 | year = 2012 | doi-access = free }} }}

{{refend}}

• {{Commonscat-inline|Lasius neglectus|Lasius neglectus}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2655554}}

neglectus

Category:Insects described in 1990

Category:Hymenoptera of Europe