Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1985, Blaðsíða 48

SUMMARY
The ant Hypoponera
punctatissima (Roger)
in Iceland
by
Erling Ólafsson
Icelandic Museum of Natural History
P. O. Box 5320, 125 Reykjavík
and
Sigurður H. Richter
Institute for Experimental Patliology
Keldur, 110 Reykjavík
Until recently, ants (Hymenoptera, For-
micidae) have not been considered to be
indigenous in Iceland.
The ant Hypoponera punctatissima was
first found in a greenhouse in Borgarfjörð-
ur, western Iceland (Petersen 1956) but
was not reported again until 1974 when it
was found in two houses in Reykjavík.
From 1974 to 1984 these ants have been
reported from 73 houses, especially in the
Reykjavík area. In most cases the ants
have been found in basements or at
ground floors. People almost exclusively
observe winged queens which often
emerge in thousands. They can appear at
any time of the year but most commonly
they are seen from late spring to early
autumn. The ant-nests seem most often to
be in small cavities near or under the base-
ment floor and in most cases when the ants
have been observed the sewers under the
houses have turned out to be defective.
In Reykjavík the ants have colonized
houses first of all in the older quarters of
the city but it is noteworthy that they are
not found in new housing estates where
the sewers are presumably in the best
order. The distribution routes of the ants
over shorter distances could perhaps be
through sewers or along municipal hot
water distribution systems, but they could
be presumed to reach more remote places
with goods like for instance potted plants
from greenhouses.
It has often been difficult to eradicate
these ants since their nests are usually
inaccessible.
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