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.
• It eats other insects and invertebrates, supplemented with honeydew from aphids it actively milks.
• It builds large mound nests in the coniferous and broadleaf woodland of Europe.
• comportamientoA single colony can hold several million ants and several queens spread across interconnected mounds.
• It fires formic acid. It has no sting: it bites and sprays acid from the tip of the abdomen, and can hit an attacker several centimetres away. The smell of vinegar is noticeable when approaching a disturbed nest.
• Their mounds are sophisticated thermoregulation structures: the dome of conifer needles is oriented towards the sun, and the workers open and close galleries to regulate the internal temperature, which they keep far higher and more stable than that outside.
• They also warm the nest with their own bodies: in spring they come out to sunbathe en masse on the dome and return inside to release the stored heat.
• A colony can consume millions of insects a year, and in several European countries it has been regarded as an agent of forest pest control; in Germany and Italy its mounds are protected.
• It milks aphids: it protects aphid colonies in the trees in exchange for their honeydew, which is the colony's main source of energy.
• Its nests can last for decades and house several hundred thousand workers.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat & environment

Coniferous and broadleaf woodland of Europe and Anatolia, building large mound nests

Birth weight

Egg laid by the queen

Size at birth

A larva fed by the workers

Sexual maturity

Mature colonies, often at least 5 years old, produce queens and breeding males

Gestation / incubation

Full development from egg through larva and pupa to worker over several weeks

Litter / clutch size

The queen can lay 80-100 eggs a day in ideal conditions

Sources consulted: Best Ants UK; AntKeepers; GBIF; UK Wood Ants; Grokipedia (Formica rufa); Ant-Shack; Antark.net; Wikipedia (Formica rufa species group)