FLIGHTS OF THE ANT 
FORMICA DAKOTENSIS EMERY* 
By Mary Talbot 
The Linwood Colleges, St. Charles, Missouri 63301 
Formica dakotensis is a small ant of the rufa group whose red 
and black workers are easily recognized by the petiolar scale, which 
is thick and flat on top and has sides that are parallel along the 
upper half and taper inward only in the lower half. 
This is the first report of F. dakotensis in Michigan. However, 
its presence here is not surprising since it has been taken in Indiana 
and Wisconsin. Other records have been west of this range. Al- 
though ant collecting has gone on at the Edwin S. George Reserve 
in southern Michigan (Livingston County) since 1951, it was not 
until August 20, 1969 that a colony of this ant was found. Subse- 
quently, two other nests have been located on the Reserve and W. F. 
Buren discovered a colony in Branch County, near the Ohio border. 
The Edwin S. George Reserve is a two square mile inclosure of 
rolling country with woods, fields, swamps and marshes. The three 
colonies (in grids G22, N26, and Cio of the Reserve map) each lay 
near the border of a field, close to a good growth of shrubs, such 
as Spirea alba Du Roi or Cornis stolonifera Michx., which grew 
near a swamp edge. 
This paper is primarily concerned with one colony, which was 
studied during the summers of 1970 and 1971 to determine its 
flight activities, nest structure, development of brood and foraging 
habits. 
The colony was discovered because the grass border of a road had 
been cut, revealing the series of small grass mounds in the high 
grass just behind. This strip (6 to 9 feet wide) of uncut grass, 
scattered shrubs and forbs formed a field- wood border. In front of 
it, across the road, an open field stretched to the northeast and allowed 
continuous sun from shortly after sunrise until mid afternoon, when 
the nest was shaded by trees. Behind lay a small poplar (Populus 
tremuloides Michx.) wood, which extended back to a swamp 18 
yards away. Plants in the nest strip were mostly grasses ( Poa 
pratensis L., Panicum oligosanthes Scribnerianum (Nash) Fern., 
Aristida purpurascens Poir.), together with shrubby meadowsweet 
^Facilities of The University of Michigan’s Edwin S. George Reserve 
were made available by the Reserve’s administrators, Dr. F. C. Evans and 
Dr. N. G. Hairston. 
Manuscript received by the editor October 21, 1971. 
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