Winged workers in the ant, Formica obscuriventris clivia Creighton

In our studies of the ants found in the region around the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory in northwestern Iowa, we have encountered two species of Formica with deep clypeal fossae. One of these is almost hairless, and has been called Formica fossaceps Buren in our papers ton mixed colonies; the other species is very hairy, with hairs also on the scapes. The hairs on the scapes led to the misidentification of this form as Formica oreas comptula Wheeler; we now consider this hairy form to be Formica obscuriventris clivia Creighton. For help in unravelling this snarl we must thank Dr. Marion R. Smith of the United States Department of Agriculture, Prof. Robert E. Gregg of the University of Colorado, and Prof. William S. Creighton of the College of the City of New York. These eminent myrmecologists have shown almost unlimited patience in dealing with the admittedly difficult problems which have arisen in the studies of mixed colonies of these two forms