sisters

Wood ant nest.  This nest belongs to the Southern red wood ant, Formica rufa.  Wood ant nests do differ between species, although it can be hard to tell them apart.

Nest and budded smaller nest of wood ant.  This budding often happens with wood ant species.

Mating during nuptial flight Formica rufa Southern Red wood ant queen and male

Worker caste of the Narrow headed ant Formica exsecta.  This species have curved backs to their heads.

Slender ant Leptothorax acervorum worker.  This ant is only 3mm, and although similar to the Shining Guest ant, has a darker and less smooth head.

Scottish wood ant Formica aquilonia worker. These ants are only modestly hairy.

Southern Red wood ant Formica rufa.  One of the most common species of European wood ant.

Shining Guest ant Formicoxenus nitidulus worker.  This tiny species is extremely shiny, and only 2.75mm long.

Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris, showing species-specific long hairs.  These reach up to and beyond the eyes.

Slave making or Blood red wood ant Formica sanguinea.  These wood ants are far redder than the other wood ant species.

Thorax and hairs detail of Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris.  Hairs are longer and more numerous than other wood ant species, and extend beyond the eyes.

Social parasitism in ants. The queen of the Slave maker ant, Formica sanguinea, being tended to by workers of Dusky ant Formica fusca.

Wood ants guide cover image Cairngorms national park and Southern red wood ants Formica fusca practising trophallaxis

Colour roughs for: Southern red wood ant Formica rufa, Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris, Scottish wood ant Formica aquilonia, and Slender ant Leptothorax acervorum.  Used to check colours before proceeding to final illustrations.

Ant species colour guide rough for: Southern red wood ant Formica rufa, Hairy wood ant Formica lugubris, Scottish wood ant Formica aquilonia, Slender ant Leptothorax acervorum, Slave-making Blood red ant Formica sanguinea, Shining guest ant Formicoxenus nitidulus, and Narrow headed ant Formica exsecta.  These sketches were used to check the colouration before moving onto the […]

Worker ant F. aquilonia Scottish wood ant, in profile.  Workers are all haplodiploid, sharing much of their genetic material with their mother, the queen. This supports their eusocial colonies.

Male wood ant F. lugubris Hairy wood ant.  These males have dark bodies and yellow legs and genitals.  Like the females, they have wings.  Unlike the females, shortly after mating during the nuptial flight, they will die.

Queen ant F. aquilonia Scottish wood ant with wings.  Newly emerged queens have wings, and following their mating and nuptial flight, they bite these off.  This enables them to burrow underground and set up a new ant nest and colony, and to begin laying eggs and raising young.

Pupae of a wood ant, both within its cocoon, and extracted.  Detail from a life cycle ant illustration by Lizzie Harper natural history and sciart illustrator

Larvae of wood ant showing their translucent bodies and segmentation.

Illustration of several eggs of a wood ant.

Detail of the thorax of the Scottish wood ant Formica aquilonia.  The illustration shows distribution of hairs up to the eyes.  This species is often confused with the Hairy wood ant which has longer hairs.

Honey bee worker Apis mellifera illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Common wasp Vespa vulgaris feeding on a ripe pear; sketch in colour