Wood Ants

This page is a work in progress. It would be great if anyone wanted to fill-in information here...a complete list of species that are considered wood ants, more information, additional citations...

This is a group of Holarctic Formica species. They form large polydomous colonies and have conspicuous thatch nests. During the warmer months of the year these ants are very active tending arboreal aphids. The size of their nests, the high level of activity of their large workers, the conspiciouos nest mounds and the large number of forest insects they gather from the trees as part of their aphid milking activities have all played a role in wood ants being the subject of research studies over many, many decades. This body of work is largely focused on Palearctic species although there has been some significant studies done with North American wood ants.

Species

 * Formica aquilonia
 * Formica lugubris
 * Formica rufa