Red Wood Ant

A thermophilic eusocial insect from the order of Hymenoptera, whose home – the ant nest – is one of the most perfectly organised communities in the realm of insects. The red wood ant has mandibles and a stunted stinger with a venom sac on its abdomen. When attacked, it bites and injects venom containing formic acid into the wound. As a rule, the nest is occupied by several queen, workers, and drones, which can be told from one another by size and coloration. The Red Wood Ant is distributed across almost all of Europe. In our latitudes, one encounters it from March to October, especially in spruce forests at medium to high elevations.