Hymenoptera

(foto F. Padovan)

     From those present in the collection (wasps, bees, hornets and ants) we have chosen to describe the Lasius fuliginosus (Latreille, 1789), a very common ant in Alpago, and particularly in Cansiglio. They make their nests in old, rotting tree trunks which may have already died from other causes such as an attack by xylophagous. The ants’ nests consist of labyrinths in a woody substance held together by hypha (Cladosporium myrmecophilum).This hypha gives the walls a velvety appearance. When the nest is built on the ground, which rarely happens, these walls have a soil-like fragile consistency.

     This name means wing-membrane and the species differs from other insects in having 4 transparent wings with no scales or pigment; usually the front pair of wings is bigger than the back pair. Ants, usually having no wings, have them when swarming, that is when they leave their original nest to form a new colony. Hymenoptera are mostly social creatures; the most evolved are organised in caste systems with a precise hierarchy.