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Another common British ant are those belonging to the species Formica, also known as the wood ant. Many of these species build huge mounds from pine needles and other woodland litter on the edge of forest clearings or pathways, and can number more than 100,000 members per colony. These ants are large, aggressive and attack
by biting and spraying formic acid very effectively if disturbed. The largest ant in the UK is Formica sanguinea and is a slave-raider. It raids colonies of other Formica species, such as Formica fusca and steals their brood, taking them back to their own nest where they raise the hatching workers as their own. Surprisingly these ants generally do not kill the workers of the nests they raid unless the defending workers try to stop the sanguinea invaders from taking what it wants. Formica rufa are polygynous and can have hundreds of egg laying queens in one nest. They are found in Southern England as well as other European countries; less commonly known as the Horse Ant.
This ant is a small black stinging ant which reminds me of a cross between Lasius niger and Myrmica rubra, though are in the same genus as the latter. They are typically found along the coasts of Southern and Western England. They can have nests containing up to 30,000 ants, but the average is perhaps 10,000. An interesting feature of this ant is that they appear to bury their food in mounds of soil; I have certainly witnessed this in my Tetramorium impurum colony.
Another wood ant species; this one black, and very much more timid than it's red cousins. They prefer to nest under rotting logs and are found from the Midlands down to Southern England. They have populations of usually less than 1000, and though can be polygynous, they do not normally have very many queens in each colony. They have extremely good eyesight but tend to be very timid, running rather than fighting.
For a downloadable list of all species indigenous to the UK, including identification key please click on the download button below.
