Shining Guest Ant (Formicoxenus nitidulus)
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: | Formicoxenus nitidulus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Nylander, 1846) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | Neither Shirt (1987) nor Falk (1991) list F. nitidulus as scarce or threatened in Britain. |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Never considered to be Nationally Scarce or rarer, this species is likely to be badly under-recorded. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | It is dependent upon the nests of several Formica species for survival. |
| 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | Diversification of woodland habitats formica ants should see an increase in host any colonies and hence more colonies of Formicoxenus. |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
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.