Wood ants (Formica fusca)

Formica fusca · Formica

Wood ants (Formica fusca). Recorded flying from June through August. Blackish-brown, ~8–9 mm, robust. Recorded near 75 of the 306 locations Dealate tracks.

When do wood ants fly?

Recorded flying from June through August.

Flight calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Queen appearance

Queen specimen photo of Formica fusca, dorsal, 1 of 3

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Roland Schultz · CC BY-SA

Blackish-brown, ~8–9 mm, robust.

quick and restless, in short bursts

How to catch a queen ant →

Founding care

Fully claustral: seal her in a test tube setup, somewhere dark and undisturbed. She raises the first brood on her own wing muscles and needs no food or opening until the first workers appear.

Needs a winter diapause: a cool, dark rest period each year.

Diet: Insects, meat, sugar water, honey etc.

Intermediate · Queen ~12 mm

Habitat

Soil · also thatched mound · typical for this genus

After a flight, watch bare or grassy ground for wingless queens. Scan open ground near woodland for wandering queens and thatch mounds.

Recorded near

Edmonton Halifax, Dartmouth Kingston Montréal, Laval, Longueuil, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Le Vieux-Longueuil, Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne, Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, Terrebonne, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Ville-Marie Ottawa, Gatineau, Nepean, Gloucester, Orléans, Ottawa South Québec, Lévis, Sainte-Foy, La Cité-Limoilou Saguenay St. Catharines Thunder Bay Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, Etobicoke, Markham, Vaughan, Kitchener, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Burlington, Oshawa, Guelph, Whitby, Milton, Cambridge, Ajax, Thornhill, Waterloo, Brantford Trois-Rivières Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, Newton, Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Langley, Whalley, Delta Victoria, Saanich Windsor Winnipeg Belfast Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Nottingham, Derby, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Dudley, Walsall, Mansfield, Telford, Gloucester, Newcastle under Lyme, Solihull, Burton upon Trent, Cheltenham, Chesterfield, Sutton Coldfield, West Bromwich, Worcester Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Swindon, Bournemouth, Newport, Poole, Mendip, Bath Edinburgh Ipswich, Norwich, Saint Peters Kingston upon Hull London, Brent, Islington, Reading, Southend-on-Sea, Brighton, Milton Keynes, City of Westminster, Northampton, Bexley, Luton, Barking, Archway, Sutton, Croydon, Ilford, Slough, Oxford, Enfield Town, Harrow, Cambridge, Basildon, High Wycombe, Colchester, Tottenham, Watford, Crawley, Worthing, Chelmsford, Walthamstow, Dagenham, Basingstoke, Maidstone, Bedford, Woking, Eastbourne, Gillingham, Becontree Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Bradford, Birkenhead, Preston, Oldham, St Helens, Wigan, Warrington, York, Burnley, Huddersfield, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Stockport, Salford, Rotherham, Doncaster, Wakefield Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Middlesbrough Peterborough, Lincoln Plymouth, Exeter Southampton, Portsmouth Dublin, South Dublin Limerick Albuquerque Allentown Billings Boise Boston, South Boston, Worcester, Providence, Lowell, Cambridge, Manchester, New Bedford Buffalo, Amherst Centennial Chicago, Aurora, Joliet, Naperville, Elgin Cleveland, Akron Colorado Springs Davenport Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Thornton, Westminster, Arvada, Boulder Des Moines Detroit, Warren, Sterling Heights Eugene Fort Collins Greeley Knoxville Lincoln Madison Nashville, Clarksville, Murfreesboro New York City, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, Newark, Jersey City, Upper West Side, Jamaica, Yonkers, East Flatbush, East New York, Washington Heights, Astoria, Borough Park, Paterson, Bridgeport, Elizabeth, Stamford, Sunset Park, Sheepshead Bay, North Stamford, Harlem, East Harlem, Elmhurst, Bushwick, Gravesend, Corona, Edison Peoria, North Peoria Philadelphia Portland, Vancouver, Gresham, Hillsboro Pueblo Raleigh, West Raleigh, Durham, Cary Reno Roanoke Rochester, NY Rockford Salinas Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, West Jordan San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Hayward, Sunnyvale, Concord, Santa Clara, Vallejo, Berkeley, Antioch, Richmond, Daly City, San Mateo, Chinatown Santa Rosa Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton South Bend Spokane Springfield, IL Springfield, MA, New Haven, Hartford, Waterbury St. Louis Syracuse Tucson Tuscaloosa Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, East Hampton, Hampton Washington, Baltimore, Arlington, Alexandria

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