Formica truncicolopratensis FOREL, 1874

Seifert, Bernhard, 2021, A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic members of the Formica rufa group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) - the famous mound-building red wood ants, Myrmecological News 31, pp. 133-179 : 168

Formica truncicolopratensis FOREL, 1874

Formica rufa var. truncicolopratensis FOREL, 1874 [photo of type]

Forel described the worker and gyne but did not mention a type locality. The taxon was synonymized by all previous authors with Formica truncorum . If a worker specimen in MHN Genève, labelled “ Typus ”, “F. truncicolo-pratensis Mt Ce..ere” and “ANTWEB CASENT 0911086” can be recognized as true type, the synonymy with F. truncorum appears likely after inspecting the z-stack photos shown in AntWeb ( ANTWEB 2021) under the specimen identifier CASENT0911086.The photos suggest shiny circular lateral clypeal depressions and the length of the second funiculus segment to be more than twice its width as it is typical for F. truncorum . The more developed dark pigmentation is not contradictory as such specimens do occasionally occur over the whole range of the species.