Red Wood Ant

Distribution: Britain, North to mid Europe, Pyrenees and Siberia

Size Length: Workers – 8 to 10mm; Queen – 12 to 15mm

Lifespan: Unregistered for workers; Queen – Up to 12 years

Diet: Omnivores

Social life: Colony

IUCN red list status: Near Threatened



Red-wood-ant (Formica rufa) habitat is mixed, deciduous, and coniferous woodlands, open rides and verges.

This species of wood ant might be distinguished from other wood ants by the rear margin of the head and the fact that it lacks a fringe of hairs on the eyes. Queens and males have well-developed thoraxes and after mating the wings separate from the body.

Their diet is composed mainly from insects and they might eat also other ants but they also farm aphids from which they take honeydew. They protect their aphids from other insects.

The queen is the only reproductive female active in the colony. In the absence of a queen in a colony, female workers might lay eggs, as a queen would do.

Colonies have around 100.000 animals with 100 queens; the biggest nests registered had half a million individuals.

It is a protected species in some countries an their main threats are environmental changes that occur in their habitat.