Dark Guest Ant (Anergates atratulus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - hymenopteran > Ant |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Anergates atratulus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Schenck, 1852) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) species profile uses the name Tetramorium atratulum (Schenck, 1852). Listed as Rare (RDB3) in Shirt's original (1987) Red List, which was revised by Falk (1991) to 'Insufficiently Known'. |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This ant has always been rare, but possibly under-recorded. It is restricted to southern England and totally dependent upon taking over nests of Tetramorium caespitum to survive. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Its host, T. caespitum, has quite specific habitat requirements. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | The host ant is already far more widely recorded than this species, so there is a limiting factor, such as dispersal ability or close juxtaposition of host nests, that will require quite specific habitat conditions. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | This ant is very difficult to find and may be significantly under-recorded. Far fewer amateur naturalists record ants compared to bees and wasps. This species does not have a worker caste and inhabits often inaccessible host nests underground in rocky or shingle habitats. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Implement appropriate habitat management to create continuity of large-scale host nest complexes at known locations.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Bolt Head and Bolberry Down ( S. Devon); the heathlands of Purbeck, Wareham and Hurn (Dorset); near Burley and Beaulieu Road Station (New Forest); Longmoor haths (Hants); Pirbright Common (Surrey); Dungeness (Kent).
Comments: It is thought that large, stable populations of its host are needed. T. caespitum itself is a thermophilous species requiring high levels of insolation at the ground surface. The largest populations of T. caespitum are found in sun-exposed, rocky or shingle coastal sites with short, sparse maritime vegetation. Some lowland heaths also support strong populations of the host but only where the vegetation is short or sparse and there are patches of bare free-draining ground.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Survey for new populations within or close to known range and other sites with good habitat characteristics.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Suitably large host populations close to extant sites.
Comments: Anergates atratulus may be under-recorded, due to its secretive habits, lack of more obvious worker caste and difficulty in excavating host nests, which would be highly destructive.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Review the need for introduction of mated gynes to large T. caespitum colonies outside current range.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Dorset heaths/New Forest
Comments: If additional survey work fails to find new colonies, connectivity could be increased by artificial colony creation. The technique of introducing caught queens has been trialled formica exsecta, so knowledge-sharing may help develop a working methodology.
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.