Species group · Insects

Ants

WAnimals has 13 species of ant, spread across 3 families (Formicidae, Mutillidae, Myrmeleontidae).

13 species
3 families
107 countries
425 parks
Length
0.2 cm – 18 cm
Lifespan
1 – 15 years

Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 13.

All 13 species of ants on WAnimals

Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Near Threatened

Red Wood Ant

Formica rufa

45 countries196 parks
Not Evaluated

Army Ant

Eciton burchellii

19 countries72 parks
Not Evaluated

Leaf-cutter Ant

Atta cephalotes

20 countries82 parks
Not Evaluated

Ant-lion

Myrmeleon formicarius

40 countries119 parks
Not Evaluated

Bullet Ant

Paraponera clavata

20 countries24 parks
Not Evaluated

Kerengga Ant

Oecophylla smaragdina

21 countries28 parks
Not Evaluated

Hercules Ant

Camponotus herculeanus

44 countries25 parks
Not Evaluated

Red Bull Ant

Myrmecia gulosa

1 country33 parks
Not Evaluated

Australian Honeypot Ant

Camponotus inflatus

1 country5 parks
Not Evaluated

South American Fire Ant

Solenopsis invicta

23 countries
Not Evaluated

Argentine Ant

Linepithema humile

60 countries
Not Evaluated

Large Velvet Ant

Mutilla europaea

41 countries
Not Evaluated

Pharaoh Ant

Monomorium pharaonis

6 countries

Conservation status

12 Not Evaluated1 Near Threatened

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

See the global conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 107 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…

  • It eats other insects and invertebrates, supplemented with honeydew from aphids it actively milks.

    From Red Wood Ant

  • It builds large mound nests in the coniferous and broadleaf woodland of Europe.

    From Red Wood Ant

  • New queens practise social parasitism: they slip into the nest of another ant species, kill its queen and take over the existing workers.

    From Red Wood Ant

  • It builds no permanent nest: its colonies are nomadic, and the workers link their own bodies into temporary structures (a bivouac) to shelter the queen and the larvae.

    From Army Ant

  • It builds no anthill: the workers link their bodies into a living nest called a bivouac.

    From Army Ant

  • Its hunting swarm advances in a fan across the forest floor, up to twenty metres wide, and takes every arthropod and small vertebrate that fails to escape.

    From Army Ant

  • It grows a symbiotic fungus that feeds the colony; it does not eat the leaves it cuts.

    From Leaf-cutter Ant

  • It does not eat the leaves it cuts: it uses them as a growing medium for a fungus, which is what it does eat — a case of non-human farming.

    From Leaf-cutter Ant

Ecosystems

See every species group · Explore the species one by one