Formica Sanguinea

Formica Sanguinea Ant Keeping Information

Formica sanguinea, the blood red ant, is an ant species of the genus Formica. This species of ant has the ability to spray formic acid. Formica sanguinea are colonies who can live by being parasitic or either alone, therefore making them facultative slave-makers. These slave-making ants use the parasitic method to find new nests. Doing this allows them to increase the numbers of the workers in their nests. Males and young female queens come during July and August. Furthermore, this species of ant has high levels of acid compared to other species of formica. Colonies, in addition, have a cycle that is seasonal. During the winter months, worker ants and the queen will survive by borrowing down until temperatures begin to warm in the spring. They do this by living off their body fats, and any food harvested before the winter.

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Habitation

These type of ants live in the highlands around native forest especially pine trees. Other plants and trees include larch and spruce. Slave making ants unlike wood ants will not make mounds. They will create ant nests in deadwood such as tree stumps logs or even under rocks and stones. Most of the times the workers forage singly, even though they may recruit new nestmates to certain resources of food. This is so because they have not been observed to be having any division of labor. Some individuals however possess compounds of Dufour’s gland than the others, which makes them presumably even more successful in the slave-raids.

Eating Habits

Formica sanguinea is a species that is very predatory on other ants. Sometimes they might take berries, seeds, and honeydew from aphids.

How They Survive

One fun fact about Formica Sanguinea is how they behave in their natural environment, compared to other Formica species. Furthermore, they take other larvae and pupae from other species of ants. They use these ants as slaves to help build and mature the colony. The slaves carry out many kinds of activities and tasks in the nests of the Formica Sanguinea, like maintenance of the nest, brood rearing, foraging. They may at times assist in the slave raids themselves. The colony of the Formica sanguinea will live as long as their queen is alive and present. So, if multiple queens are present, or maybe a daughter takes over from the mother, then the colony might persist for decades.

How To Look After This Species of Ant

The changes in the management of the woodland, afforestation that is inappropriate, deforestation, the disturbance that is human, expansion of urban centers and agricultural fields are majorly linked to the loss of the habitat that is suitable for the Formica sanguinea, which is one of the woodland ants. Evidence that is recent does suggest that Formica Sanguinea species is very much common than it was thought previously. Certainly, in Scotland across the northeast, they are able of taking advantage of the felled areas which are new within plantations that are commercial. These areas don’t just provide suitable sites for nesting, but the species of Formica lemani is also in abundance thus allowing Formica sanguinea to enslave these species. Monitoring these key sites continuously might help in ensuring that the management of forests is sympathetic to the Formica sanguinea species.