1976] 
Talbot — Natural History of Formica talbotae 
287 
in the sun had adequate warmth, but a wind kept the plants in 
almost constant motion. Ants at the “cedar nest” could fly be- 
cause they were in the sun and because they could climb the cedar 
trunk to take off, thus avoiding moving plants. 
Both males and females could fly from grasses, but females 
often preferred the more stabile stalks of monarda or goldenrod. 
Sometimes they climbed rapidly with wings half spread and flew 
immediately. More often they came up slowly, stopping several 
times before reaching a plant tip from which they would fly after 
a brief fluttering of wings. 
Females tended to loiter for a longer time than did males and 
so set up conditions for swarming on a miniature scale. Swarm- 
ing was considered to exist when males, instead of flying off, 
flew among the plants, lighting on one stem after another, until 
they found females with which to mate. This did not take place 
on all flights. One typical swarm occurred on August 25, 1970, 
at 78°. When first seen, 10 females were standing on plants and 
8 males were flying among them. One male united with a female 
and then moved off fluttering its wings; 3 others walked rapidly, 
with a jerking motion, among stems. One found a female and 
mated for a half minute. Then 2 others were seen mating. Other 
males and females joined the group. Males flew up and down 
among the plants, then lit on stems to find females. When fe- 
males were in excess, they seemed to be waiting until males found 
them. This was a very low grade swarm but, aside from numbers 
involved and the fact that it took place over the nest, it was essen- 
tially like the ground swarms of F. obscuripes, which have been 
reported from the Reserve (Talbot, 1972), and still more like 
the small swarms which took place over the nest of Formica da- 
kotensis Emery (Talbot, 1971). 
Literature Cited 
King, R. L. and F. Walters 
1950. Population of a colony of Formica rufa melanotica Emery. Iowa 
Academy of Science 57: 469-473. 
Talbot, M. 
1959. Flight activities of two species of ants of the genus Formica. The 
American Midland Naturalist 61 : 124-132. 
Flights of the ant Formica dakotensis Emery. Psyche 78 : 169-179. 
Flights and swarms of the ant Formica obscuripes Forel. J. Kansas 
Entomol. Soc. 45 : 254-258. 
1971. 
1972. 
