Formica rufa Linnaeus, 1761
(Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)

Taxonomic hierarchy:
SpeciesFormica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
GenusFormica (a genus of ants)
SubfamilyFORMICINAE (a subfamily of hymenopterans)
FamilyFORMICIDAE (ants)
SuperfamilyVESPOIDEA (wasps)
InfraorderAculeata (aculeates: bees, wasps and ants)
SuborderAPOCRITA (bees, wasps, ants and parasitoids)
OrderHYMENOPTERA (ants, bees and wasps, sawflies and parasitoid wasps)
Division Endopterygota (bees, beetles, flies, moths and other insects with wings developing internally)
InfraclassNeoptera (bees, beetles, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other advanced insects)
SubclassPTERYGOTA (bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other winged insects)
ClassINSECTA (true insects)
SubphylumHEXAPODA (insects and other 6-legged organisms)
PhylumARTHROPODA (arthropods)
SuperphylumECDYSOZOA (skin shedders)
CladeBilateria (bilaterally symmetrical animals)
SubkingdomEUMETAZOA (metazoans)
KingdomANIMALIA (animals)
DomainEukaryota (eukaryotes)
LifeBIOTA (living things)
Records of Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant) :
1: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
30 Apr 2019 OSGR: SU00 50° 50’ N, 1° 60’ W Vice County: Dorset (VC 9) England
Queen
Image 1: Queen - dorsal view - highly enlarged - silver backgroundImage 2: Queen - fore-parts - dorsal view - highly enlarged - silver backgroundImage 3: Queen - head - anterior view - close-up - magnified - silver backgroundImage 4: Queen - head - anterior view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 5: Queen - ventral view - highly enlarged - silver background
2: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
1 Apr 2018 OSGR: SY89 50° 40’ N, 2° 10’ W Vice County: Dorset (VC 9) England
worker ant from nest in heap of needles
Image 1: Worker - dorsal view - highly enlarged - silver backgroundImage 2: Worker - head and pronotum - dorsal view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 3: Worker - head - dorsal view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 4: Worker - head - lateral view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 5: Worker - lateral view - highly enlarged - silver backgroundImage 6: Worker - ventral view - highly enlarged - silver background
3: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
17 May 2014 OSGR: SZ08 50° 40’ N, 1° 60’ W Vice County: Dorset (VC 9) England
Male
Image 1: Male - dorsal view - enlarged - silver backgroundImage 2: Male - lateral view - enlarged - silver backgroundImage 3: Male - postero-dorsal view - enlarged - silver background
4: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
13 Apr 2008 OSGR: SO90 51° 40’ N, 2° 0’ W Vice County: East Glos (VC 33) England
dense aggregations on ground, perhaps where nest had been disturbed
Image 1: Aggregation on ground - close-upImage 2: Dense aggregation on groundImage 3: Worker - dorsal view - enlarged - grey backgroundImage 4: Worker - dorsal view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 5: Worker - gaster - ventral view - close-up - magnifiedImage 6: Worker - head and antennae - antero-dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 7: Worker - head and mandibles - antero-ventral view - magnifiedImage 8: Worker - head and thorax - lateral view - magnifiedImage 9: Worker - head - antero-dorsal view - magnifiedImage 10: Worker - head, thorax and antennae - antero-dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 11: Worker - mandibles - antero-ventral view - magnifiedImage 12: Worker - thorax - lateral view - close-up - magnifiedImage 13: Worker - ventral view - enlarged - grey background
5: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
14 Jun 1997 OSGR: SP61 51° 50’ N, 1° 10’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
on Birch leaf
Image 1: Worker - lateral view
6: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
14 Jun 1997 OSGR: SP61 51° 50’ N, 1° 10’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
Image 1: Male - lateral view
7: Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
9 Aug 1970 OSGR: TQ50 50° 50’ N, 0° 10’ E Vice County: East Sussex (VC 14) England
Red Wood Ants’ nest
Image 1: Ant\'s nestImage 2: Ants nest - at base of fence postImage 3: Ants nest - closer stillImage 4: Ants nest - close-up

Identification Works

AuthorYearTitleSource
Seiffert, B. 1991 The phenotypes of the Formica rufa complex in East Germany Abhandlungen und Berichte des Naturkundemuseums Gorlitz Vol 65(1): 1-27.

Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant) may also be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

NBNNBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
BioInfoBioInfo (www.bioinfo.org.uk) has 16 host/parasite/foodplant and/or other relationships for Formica rufa (Red Wood Ant, Southern Wood Ant)
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioImages website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.

Photographs from other photographers are used with permission but not included under the above CC licence.

BioImages - Virtual Field-Guide (UK)