Formica rufa species group

{{Short description|Group of ants}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Formica rufa'' species group}} {{Automatic taxobox |name=''Formica rufa'' species group |image=A Formica rufa sideview.jpg |image_caption=''Formica rufa'' worker |image2=Formicidae - Formica rufa (winged male).JPG |image2_caption=''Formica rufa'' group winged male |taxon=Formica rufa species group |subdivision_ranks=Species |subdivision=(see text) }} The '''''Formica rufa'' group''' is a subgeneric group within the genus ''Formica'', first proposed by William Morton Wheeler. This group contains the mound-building species of ''Formica'' commonly termed "wood ants" or "thatch-mound ants", which build prominent nests consisting of a mound of grass, litter, or conifer needles.<ref name="Gösswald">{{cite book |last=Gösswald |first=Karl |title=Die Waldameise 1 |publisher=Wiesbaden : Aula-Verlag |date=1989 |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=3-89104-475-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/diewaldameise1bi0001goss }}</ref> The species ''Formica rufa'' or the red wood ant is the type species of this subgroup.

thumb|Typical ''Formica'' thatch mound made of forest litter on rotten stump, covered by worker ants going out to forage This particular group can inhabit open deciduous woodlands, dense pine forests, and even moorland. Workers vary in size, the largest reaching about {{convert|10|mm}} long. They can produce formic acid in their abdomens and eject it {{convert|12|cm}} in the air when threatened.<ref name="fb">Dr Timothy Batchelor [https://www.msu.edu/~keagy/ASAB_feedback_49.pdf Msu.edu - Southern red wood ant Formica rufa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003061818/https://www.msu.edu/~keagy/ASAB_feedback_49.pdf|date=2012-10-03}}</ref> The only function of males is to mate in flight with queens.<ref name=fb/> Species previously attributed to the ''Microgyna'' group were transferred to the '' F. rufa'' group by the Wheelers in 1986.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}

==Colonies== The genetic relationships in ''F. rufa'' group colonies can be complex. Colonies can be polygynous (having multiple queens) and these are often polydomous (having multiple nests per colony). Queens may be singly or multiply mated, and in polygynous colonies, may or may not be related. Colonies are rarely, if ever, independently formed. They either bud off from existing colonies, or are formed by temporary social parasitism of colonies of ''F. fusca'' or other closely related species. A wood ant queen ousts the existing queen, lays eggs, and the ''F. fusca'' workers raise her offspring until the nest is taken over. Some species in the ''F. rufa'' group sometimes form enormous "supercolonies" consisting of hundreds or thousands of nests. The largest documented example is an ''F. yessensis'' colony in Japan covering {{convert|2.7|km2}} containing an estimated 306 million workers and 1 million queens.<ref name="Bourke">{{cite book |last=Bourke |first=Andrew F. G. |author2=Nigel Rigby Franks |title=Social Evolution in Ants |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=1995 |location= |pages=353 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IpvoRg6nXnwC&dq=polydomous+ant+formica&pg=PA353 |doi= |id= |isbn=0691044260}}</ref>

==Member species== European species include: *''Formica aquilonia'' Yarrow, 1955 *''Formica lugubris'' Zetterstedt, 1838 *''Formica paralugubris'' Seifert, 1996 *''Formica polyctena'' Förster, 1850 *''Formica pratensis'' Retzius, 1783 *''Formica rufa'' Linnaeus, 1761 *''Formica truncorum'' Fabricius, 1804

Asian species include: *''Formica yessensis''

==See also== *''Pissant''

==References== {{Reflist}}

rufa species group Category:Insect species groups