Formica rufa

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 2-3

1. Formica rufa , Pl. III. figs. 1, 7, 8, 9. B.M.

Formica rufa, Linn. Faun. Suec. no. 1721; Syst. Nat. i. 962.3.

Scop. Ins. Cam. 313. 836.

Fabr. Syst. Ent. 391. 4; Ent. Syst. ii. 351. 8; Syst. Piez. 398. 11.

Schrank, Ins. Austr. no. 834.

Rossi, Faun. Etrus. ii. 113. 836.

Don. Brit. Ins. xiv. 76. t. 496 [[queen]].

Oliv. Encycl. Meth. vi. 493. 14.

Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourm. 143. pl. 5. f. 28. A. B. [[male]] [[queen]] [[worker]].

Dumer. Consid. gen. 211. t. 32. f. 2 [[queen]].

Jurine, Hym. 272.

St. Farg. Hym. i. 201. 3.

Curtis, Brit. Ent. xvi. t. 752 [[male]] [[queen]] [[worker]].

Zett. Ins. Lapp. 449. 5.

Brulle, Exped. Sc. de Moree, iii. 327. 727.

Nyl. Form. Fr. et d'Alger. 60. 14; Adno. Mon. Form. Bor. 902. 5.

Foerst, Hym. Stud. Form. 13. 3.

Schenck, Beschr. Nass. Ameis. 25.

Smith, Brit. Form, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. iii. n. s. 100.1.

Mayr. Form. Austr. 56. 9; Ungar. Ameis. 9. 9.

Formica dorsata, Panz. Faun. Germ. 54. 1 [[queen]].

Formica obsoleta, Zett. Ins. Lapp. 449. 5 [[queen]] [[worker]].

Formica lugubris, Zett. idem, 6 [[male]].

Formica polyctena, Foerst . Hym. Stud. Form. 15. 4.

Schenck, Beschr. Nass. Ameis. 28.

Formica truncicola, Foerst . Hym. Stud. Form. 21.

Formica piniphila, Schenck , Beschr. Nass. Ameis. 28.

Hab. Europe.

This species is popularly known as the Wood-ant, from the circumstance of its forming the heaped-up nests of leaves, sticks and similar materials, usually in woods, but colonies are frequently met with in other situations; indeed it sometimes takes possession of the decaying trunk of a tree, and has been observed in a wall built of turf; but woods are its common habitat. The nests of this species are the habitat of several Coleoptera, which probably resort to them as suitable situations in which to undergo their metamorphoses; of such, Cetonia aurata and Clythra quadripunctata are examples: besides these, there are also found in the nests a number of species belonging to the family Staphylinidse, and as these are carried into the nests by the ants themselves, there can he little doubt, as they are not only suffered to live, but are carefully tended to and protected by the ants, that they are in some way conducive to the welfare of the communities, probably emitting, like the Aphidae, secretions which are supplied by the working ants to their young brood. In the nest are also occasionally found colonies of the allied genus Myrmica ; M. nitidula and M. muscorum are sometimes met with, and we have twice found a colony of M. laevinodis living in perfect harmony with the rightful owners in the very heart of the nest.