Formica exsecta is a species of ant found from Western Europe to Asia.
Paraponera clavata, commonly known as the bullet ant, is a species of ant named for its extremely painful sting. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests in Central and South America.
Formica is a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, including species commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. Formica is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type species of genus Formica is the European red wood ant Formica rufa. Ants of this genus tend to be between 4 and 8 mm long. Ants belonging to the Formica genus possess a single knob or bump located between their thorax and abdomen. These ants primarily feed on honeydew, a sugary liquid produced by aphids. Formica ants appear to take on a shepherding role with smaller aphids, relocating them to different parts of plants to ensure a continuous food source for the aphids. By doing so, the ants can establish a relatively sustainable honeydew supply for both themselves and their colony.
The Formica rufa group is a subgeneric group within the genus Formica, first proposed by William Morton Wheeler. This group contains the mound-building species of Formica commonly termed "wood ants" or "thatch-mound ants", which build prominent nests consisting of a mound of grass, litter, or conifer needles. The species Formica rufa or the red wood ant is the type species of this subgroup.
Formica rufa, also known as the red wood ant, southern wood ant, or horse ant, is a boreal member of the Formica rufa group of ants, and is the type species for that group, being described already by Linnaeus. It is native to Eurasia, with a recorded distribution stretching from the middle of Scandinavia to the northern Iberia and Anatolia, and from Great Britain to Lake Baikal, with unconfirmed reportings of it also to the Russian Far East. There are claims that it can be found in North America, but this is not confirmed in specialised literature, and no recent publication where North American wood ants are listed mentions it as present, while records from North America are all listed as dubious or unconfirmed in a record compilation. Workers head and thorax are colored red and the abdomen brownish-black, usually with a dorsal dark patches on the head and promensonotum, although some individuals may be more uniform reddish and even have some red on the part of the gastern facing the body. In order to separate them from closely related species, specimens needs to be inspected under magnification, where difference in hairyness are among the telling characteristics, with Formica rufa being more hairy than per example Formica polyctena but less hairy than Formica lugubris. Workers are polymorphic, measuring 4.5–9 mm in length. They have large mandibles, and like many other ant species, they are able to spray formic acid from their abdomens as a defence. Formic acid was first extracted in 1671 by the English naturalist John Ray by distilling a large number of crushed ants of this species. These ants primarily eat honeydew from aphids. Some groups form large networks of connected nests with multiple queen colonies, while others have single-queen colonies.
An ant colony is a population of a single ant species able to maintain its complete lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, communal, and efficiently organized and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution. The typical colony consists of one or more egg-laying queens, numerous sterile females and, seasonally, many winged sexual males and females. In order to establish new colonies, ants undertake flights that occur at species-characteristic times of the day. Swarms of the winged sexuals depart the nest in search of other nests. The males die shortly thereafter, along with most of the females. A small percentage of the females survive to initiate new nests.
Polyergus is a small genus of ants with 14 described species. They are also referred to by the names "slave-raiding ants" and "Amazon ants". They are characterized by their habit of raiding nests for workers.
Formica fusca is a black-colored ant commonly found throughout Europe as well as parts of southern Asia and Africa. It has the common names silky ant or dusky ant. The range within the palaearctic region extends from Portugal in the west to Japan in the east and from Italy in the south to Fennoscandia in the north. Populations from North America have been split off as a separate species, Formica subaenescens. F. fusca nests are usually found in rotten tree stumps or under stones in clearcut areas and along woodland borders and hedgerows.
Formica lugubris, also known as the hairy wood ant is commonly found in wooded upland areas across northern Eurasia. Colonies construct large thatched mound nests occupied by thousands of workers, and one or more queens. Workers look similar to other species of wood ants, but Formica lugubris workers can be identified by a fringe of hairs that reaches down to their eyes and prominent hairs between the facets of their compound eyes. Workers can reach sizes of up to 9 mm long; queens are larger, reaching 12 mm long.
Formica pratensis, the black-backed meadow ant, is a species of European red wood ant in the family Formicidae.
Polyergus lucidus is a species of slave-making ant in the subfamily Formicinae endemic to the eastern United States. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look after its brood and reliant on ants of another species of the genus Formica to undertake these tasks. Parasitic ants are known as "dulotics" and the ants they parasitise are known as "hosts".
Polyergus samurai is a species of slave-making ant in the subfamily Formicinae.
Formica sanguinea, or blood-red ant, is a species of facultative slave-maker ant in the genus Formica characterized by the ability to secrete formic acid. It ranges from Central and Northern Europe through Russia to Japan, China, the Korean Peninsula, Africa and also the United States. This species is coloured red and black with workers up to 7 mm long.
Atta cephalotes is a species of leafcutter ant in the tribe Attini. A single colony of ants can contain up to 5 million members, and each colony has one queen that can live more than 15 years. The colony comprises different castes, known as "task partitioning", and each caste has a different job to do.
Slave-making ants or slaver ants are brood parasites that capture broods of other ant species to increase the worker force of their colony. After emerging in the slave-maker nest, slave workers work as if they were in their own colony, while parasite workers only concentrate on replenishing the labor force from neighboring host nests, a process called slave raiding.
Formica subsericea, colloquially known as the black field ant, is a species of ant in the genus Formica. It is found in the eastern United States and Canada. Workers of this species are incredibly fast and quite timid. Workers of this species are commonly found working as slaves in Polyergus colonies. Nuptial flights typically occur in July or August. It is often confused with another Formica species, Formica fusca. The larvae of Microdon megalogaster, a member of the ant fly genus, have been observed in the nests of these ants. The inquiline relationship of these fly larvae is not well understood.
Formica biamoensis is an extinct species of formicid in the ant subfamily Formicinae known from fossils found in eastern Asia.
An ant supercolony is an exceptionally large ant colony, consisting of a high number of spatially separated but socially connected nests of a single ant species, spread over a large area without territorial borders. Supercolonies are typically polygynous, containing many egg-laying females. Workers and queens from different nests within the same supercolony can freely move among the nests, and all workers cooperate indiscriminately with each other in collecting food and care of the brood, and show no apparent mutual aggressive behavior.
Formica paralugubris is a species of ant. It is a member of the Formica rufa species group native to the Alps in the Palearctic realm. It is a cryptic species, often miscategorized as Formica lugubris due to morphological similarities. The two species are capable of differentiating one another, however; F. paralugubris ants react aggressively towards F. lugubris ants.Formica paralugubris differs in its organization as a supercolony. It has been introduced into North America with the import of pine trees. It does not exhibit characteristics found in other invasive species due to its limited native range.
