Solenopsis fugax | |
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Solenopsis fugax worker | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
Tribe: | Solenopsidini |
Genus: | Solenopsis |
Species: | S. fugax |
Binomial name | |
Solenopsis fugax Latreille, 1798 |
Solenopsis fugax is a myrmicine ant of the genus Solenopsis.
It is the only member of its genus to be native to the British Isles, and although rare, it has been taken by Horace Donisthorpe in a number of localities on England's Southern coast, including Sandown and Shanklin on the Isle of Wight, and also in the south westerly region of Lyme Regis.
The species is a thief ant and usually has its nest near another species, stealing food by entering the foreign colony through minute tunnels dug from their own nest.