Stenamma westwoodii Westwood, 1839
Description and notes
Stenamma westwoodii is a small dark reddish brown myrmicine ant very similar to the more common S. debile (Förster). Up until the 1990s it was thought to be the only species of its genus in the British Isles. It is now clear that S. debile is much more common and older records for S. westwoodii are now treated as S. westwoodii agg and most early records are likely to be S. debile.
Distribution
The map shows S. westwoodii iso Dubois.
There are a few confirmed records for southern England. Only a minority of the S. westwoodii agg records are likely to be S. westwoodii iso Dubois and it is hoped that where vouchers exist these can be examined and more confirmed records can be added to the map.
Elswhere in Europe there are a few isolated records from Belgium (Dubois, 1998; Seifert, 2007) and the Netherlands (Seifert, 2007).
Status (in Britain only)
Not regarded as scarce or threatened but this should possibly be reviewed owing to its apparent rarity and the fact that the Britian appears to have the main population worldwide.
Identification
To seperate the two species of Stenamma refer to Dubois (1993 and 1998), Seifert (2007), or Fox (2008).
Habitat
Has been recorded from deciduous woods, a garden and a grassy bank. Possibly preferring a more open habitat than S. debile.
Flight period
Flight period is thought to be September and October.
Foraging behaviour
Probably similar to S. debile.
Nesting biology
Nests have been found under stones.
Parasites
No data available.
Year profile last updated
2020