FLIGHTS OF THE ANT POLYERGUS LUCIDUS MAYR 
By Mary Talbot 
Lindenwood College, St. Charles, Missouri 
Flights of ants at the Edwin S. George Reserve, Livingston 
County, Michigan, have been studied over a number of years (Talbot 
1 956, 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966, and Kannowski 1959a, 1959b). This 
paper is another in the flight series and concerns the slave-making 
ant, Polyergus lucidus Mayr. 
Polyergus colonies are scattered over the George Reserve, living 
in open fields or at woods’ edge and forming mixed colonies with 
Formica pallidefulva nitidiventris Emery. The flights recorded here 
took place mainly from the Lawn Colony, where 26 flights were seen 
during i960, 1961, and 1962. These observations were supplemented, 
for comparison, by records of seven flights from two other colonies. 
The main flights of Polyergus at the Reserve took place during 
August. They began in late July and extended into early or mid- 
September. July 31, 1962 was the date of the earliest flight seen, 
although a dealate female was found on July 28, 1964. The latest 
flight recorded, on September 9, 1963, liberated only three males. 
The flight season at any one colony is long, probably a month to 
six weeks, and the time of starting and stopping flights must vary 
considerably from colony to colony, depending on local environment 
of the nest and rate of maturing of the brood. 
Polyergus spread the maturing of brood of winged ants over an ex- 
tended period, and flights began long before all of the adults had 
emerged. Winged pupae have been found as early in the year as 
June 19, 1962, and as late as September 1, 1964. The earliest time 
that adult winged ants were found was July 21, 1962, and there were 
still some in the nest on September 9, 1963, when the latest observa- 
tions were made. 
The total number of males and females produced could not be 
determined because not all of the flights of a year were seen. One 
medium-sized colony that was dug and counted still had 1 1 5 females, 
407 males, and 13 male pupae on September 1, 1965. Eight flights of 
*The work was assisted by a grant from the United States National Sci- 
ence Foundation. Facilities of the University of Michigan’s Edwin S. George 
Reserve were made available by Dr. Francis C. Evans, Associate Director, 
and Dr. X. H. Hubbel, Director of the Reserve. 
Manuscript received by the editor November 27, 1967 
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