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Formica rufa
Formica rufa worker
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Genus:	Formica
Species:	F. rufa
Binomial name
Formica rufa Linnaeus, 1761

Formica rufa, also known as the southern wood ant or horse ant, is a boreal member of the Formica rufa group of ants, commonly found throughout much of Europe^[2] in both coniferous and broad-leaf broken woodland and parkland. Workers can measure 8–10 mm in length. They have large mandibles and like many other ant species they are able to dispense 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.^[3]

A caterpillar being bitten by F. rufa.

A common diet for a wood ant colony is invertebrates found around the nest, particularly aphids harvested from the surrounding trees, although they are voracious scavengers. Nests of these ants are large, conspicuous, dome-shaped edifices, usually situated in woodland clearings, where the sun's rays can reach them. F. rufa is commonly used in forestry and is often introduced into an area as a form of pest management.

Patrolling Formica rufa

F. rufa is highly polygynous and often re-adopts post-nuptial queens from its own mother colony, leading to old, multi gallery nests which may contain well over a hundred egg-producing females. These colonies can often measure several metres in height and diameter. Formica rufa is aggressively territorial, and will often attack and remove other ant species from the area. Nuptial flights take place during the springtime and are often marked by savage battles between neighbouring colonies as territorial boundaries are re-established ^[4].

A Formica rufa nest

Workers show considerable polymorphism and it has been noted that larger individuals forage further away from the nest.^[5]

The species can also establish nests using the mechanism of temporary social parasitism, the hosts being species of the Formica fusca group, notably F. fusca and F. lemani, although incipient F. rufa colonies have also been recorded from nests of F. glebaria, F. cunnicularia and similar species including the Lasius genus.

Bee paralysis virus[link]

In 2008, the Chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) was reported for the first time in this species and another species of ant, Camponotus vagus. CPPV affects bees, ants, and mites.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Formica rufa

• Ants Shooting Acid - Info & Video of Formica rufa shooting formic acid.
• Southern wood ant , southern wood ant pictures Macro photography of southern wood ant