Die Verbreitung der Waldameisen in den Kantonen Basel-Landschaft und Basel-Stadt

Distribution of forest ants in the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt In 2015 and 2016, the forest service of the two Basel cantons and the nature protection service of Basel-Landschaft made an inventory of the distributions of forest ants, by mapping systematically the location of anthills. In total, 1757 anthills were found, which is estimated at two thirds of the real number of anthills. The presence of five species of domestic forest ants was demonstrated. The two most common species, Formica rufa and F. polyctena are mostly at medium altitude in Basel-Landschaft. As expected the nests of F. lugubris and F. paralugubris are found overwhelmingly at high altitude. The anthills of F. pratensis are mostly found in open habitats. The know ledge obtained through this mapping on the distribution of these species will make possible a targeted approach to protecting the nests. In addition, these results will serve as a baseline for future research, and represent a significant contribution to knowledge of fauna in Switzerland.