Formica sanguinea

Queens may start new colonies by fission of existing nests or by parasitizing nests of other ants. Workers raid nests of other ant species to obtain food and new workers.

Identification
Mesosoma and front of head bright red; gaster and ocellar region of head brownish black. Proportion of dark to red varies from north to south with some arctic samples having proponderantly dark heads and dusky red mesosoma contrasting with southern samples which may have whole body excluding gaster bright red. Frontal triangle dull; eyes without hairs. Clypeus with median anterior notch variable in size and shape but always present. Head and mandibles broad relative to alitrunk and gaster. Length: 6.0-9.0 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution
Throughout Eurasia from Portugal to Japan and Iran to Arctic Norway (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India. Palaearctic Region: Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Biology
Collingwood (1979) - This is the well known aggressive red slave-making ant raiding nests of any species in its neighbourhood during the summer and removing pupae of the Formica fusca group of species for rearing in the parent nest as auxiliaries and also as food. All Fennoscandian species of the F. fusca group have been found in mixed colonies with F. sanguinea including Formica rufibarbis, Formica cinerea, Formica gagatoides and Formica transkaucasica as well as the more frequent Formica fusca or Formica lemani. F. sanguinea tends to avoid in-fighting but overwhelms other species by abrupt aggressive movements. Nests are situated under stones or in tree stumps with a small accumulation of leaf litter. It is often a dominant species in cleared woodland and in some localities all other Formica species have been eliminated and in such cases only pure F. sanguinea colonies are to be found, usually with a high proportion of small workers to act as nurses. Colonies spread by nest splitting and also by individual queens entering nests of the auxiliary species and appropriating a part of the brood, the host queen or queens being subsequently destroyed. Alatae are developed in July pairing often occurring in the vicinity of the nest.

Fungi
This species is a host for the ectoparastic fungus Aegeritella superficialis (Espadaler & Santamaria, 2012).

Nomenclature

 *  sanguinea. Formica sanguinea Latreille, 1798: 37 (w.) FRANCE. Jurine, 1807: 272 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1953c: 169 (l.); Imai, 1966: 119 (k.). Combination in F. (Raptiformica): Forel, 1913i: 361. Senior synonym of dominula: Smith, F. 1851: 115; Schenck, 1852: 36; Mayr, 1855: 337; Radchenko, 2007: 37; of arenicola, borea, clarior, fusciceps, griseopubescens, leninei, mollesonae, monticola, rotundata, strennua, tristis: Dlussky, 1965a: 16; of flavorubra: Dlussky, 1967a: 97; Collingwood, 1978: 74. Material of the unavailable name minuta referred here by Dlussky, 1965a: 16. See also: Wheeler, W.M. 1913f: 401; Donisthorpe, 1915d: 280; Stitz, 1939: 316; Dlussky, 1967a: 97; Tarbinsky, 1976: 186; Kutter, 1977c: 289; Collingwood, 1979: 137; Kupyanskaya, 1990: 191; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 280.
 * dominula. Formica dominula Nylander, 1846a: 905, pl. 18, fig. 15 (w.q.m.) FINLAND. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Smith, F. 1851: 115; Schenck, 1852: 36; Mayr, 1855: 337; Radchenko, 2007: 37.
 * fusciceps. Formica sanguinea var. fusciceps Emery, 1895c: 335 (footnote) (w.) JAPAN. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * mollesonae. Formica sanguinea var. mollesonae Ruzsky, 1903c: 206 (w.) RUSSIA. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * clarior. Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea var. clarior Ruzsky, 1905b: 420 (w.) CAUCASUS. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * flavorubra. Formica sanguinea var. flavorubra Forel, 1909c: 105 (w.) SPAIN. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1967a: 97; Collingwood, 1978: 74.
 * borea. Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea var. borea Santschi, 1925g: 351 (w.m.) FINLAND. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * strennua. Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea var. strennua Santschi, 1925g: 352 (w.) SPAIN. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of strenua Haliday, above.] Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * griseopubescens. Formica sanguinea var. griseopubescens Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1926b: 95 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * monticola. Formica sanguinea subsp. monticola Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1926b: 95, figs. 3, 4 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of monticola Buckley, 1866: 157, above.] Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * rotundata. Formica sanguinea var. rotundata Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1926b: 95, fig. 2 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. Raised to species: Dlussky, 1962: 182. Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * clara. Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea var. clara Karavaiev, 1927d: 345 (w.) UKRAINE. [Junior primary homonym of clara Forel, 1886f: 206.] Replacement name: leninei Santschi, 1928b: 46.
 * arenicola. Formica sanguinea subsp. arenicola Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1928b: 15 (w.) RUSSIA. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of arenicola Buckley, above.] Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * leninei. Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea var. leninei Santschi, 1928b: 46. Replacement name for clara Karavaiev, 1927d: 345. [Junior primary homonym of clara Forel, 1886f: 206.] Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.
 * tristis. Formica (Raptiformica) sanguinea var. tristis Karavaiev, 1929b: 217 (w.) RUSSIA. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of tristis Christ, above.] Junior synonym of sanguinea: Dlussky, 1965a: 16.