Elongate Paederine vs Yellow Meadow Ant

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Elongate Paederine Yellow Meadow Ant
Scientific Name Lathrobium elongatum Lasius flavus
Order Coleoptera Hymenoptera
Family Staphylinidae Formicidae
Size 7-9 mm 2-4 mm
Habitat Rivers & Streams Grasslands
Diet Root Feeders Root Feeders
Regions Europe Europe, Western Asia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Elongate Paederine

A very slender, reddish-brown paederine rove beetle that lives deep within waterlogged soils near streams. Its extremely narrow body is adapted for burrowing through saturated soil.

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Did You Know?

This beetle can survive prolonged submersion in water, breathing through a plastron of air trapped by microscopic hairs on its body surface.

Yellow Meadow Ant

A yellow subterranean ant that builds earth mounds in grasslands across Europe. Workers rarely come to the surface, spending most of their lives tending root aphids underground. Their mounds create distinctive hummocky landscapes in old meadows.

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Did You Know?

Some of their grassland mounds are estimated to be over a century old and support unique plant communities on their surface.