View source for Formica

{{Short description|Genus of ants}}
{{other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2011}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Eocene]]-present, {{fossilrange|46|0|earliest=48.4}}
| image=A Formica rufa collecting.jpg
| image_caption =  ''[[Formica rufa]]''
| taxon = Formica
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''[[Formica rufa]]''<ref name="AWFormica"/>
| type_species_authority = 
| diversity_link = #Species
| diversity = 234 species
| diversity_ref = <ref name="AntCat">{{AntCat|429349|''Formica''|2016|accessdate=25 April 2016}}</ref>
| synonyms =
''Adformica'' <small>Lomnicki, 1925</small><br>
''Coptoformica'' <small>Müller, 1923</small><br>
''Formicina'' <small>Shuckard, 1840</small><br>
''Neoformica'' <small>Wheeler, 1913</small><br>
''Raptiformica'' <small>Forel, 1913</small><br>
''Serviformica'' <small>Forel, 1913</small>
}}
'''''Formica''''' is a [[genus]] of [[ant]]s of the subfamily [[Formicinae]], including species commonly known as '''wood ants''', '''mound ants''', '''thatching ants''', and '''field ants'''. ''Formica'' is the [[type genus]] of the [[Formicidae]], and of the subfamily [[Formicinae]].<ref name="AWFormicidae"/> The [[type species]] of genus ''Formica'' is the European red wood ant ''[[Formica rufa]]''.<ref name="AWFormica"/>  Ants of this genus tend to be between 4 and 8&nbsp;mm long.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=http://www.orkin.com/ants/field-ant/|title=Field Ant Facts|website=Orkin|access-date=2016-03-31|archive-date=2017-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716125909/https://www.orkin.com/ants/field-ant/|url-status=live}}</ref> Ants belonging to the ''Formica'' genus possess a single knob or bump located between their thorax and abdomen. These ants primarily feed on honeydew, a sugary liquid produced by aphids. ''Formica'' ants appear to take on a shepherding role with smaller aphids, relocating them to different parts of plants to ensure a continuous food source for the aphids. By doing so, the ants can establish a relatively sustainable honeydew supply for both themselves and their colony.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Formica Ant |url=https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Formica-Ant |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=www.insectidentification.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The genus name ''Formica'' comes directly from the [[Latin]] ''formīca'', meaning "ant".<ref>{{cite book |author=Simpson DP |title=Cassell's Latin Dictionary |publisher=Cassell |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-304-52257-6 |edition=5th |location=London}}</ref> [[Formic acid]], which is produced by these ants and others, takes its name from ants.

==Habitat==
As the name wood ant implies, many ''Formica'' species live in wooded areas<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jukuri.luke.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/551547/Sorvari_2022.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=habitat}}</ref> where no shortage of material exists with which they can thatch their mounds (often called anthills<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/anthill|title = Anthill}}</ref>). One shade-tolerant species is ''[[Formica lugubris|F. lugubris]]''. However, sunlight is  important to most ''Formica'' species, and colonies rarely survive for any considerable period in deeply shaded, dense woodland.  The majority of species, especially outside the [[Formica rufa group|''F. rufa'' species group]], are inhabitants of more open woodlands or treeless grassland or shrubland. In North America, at least, these habitats had a long history of frequent landscape-scale fires that kept them open before European settlement. Conversion to agriculture and fire suppression have reduced the abundance of most American ''Formica'' species, while the cessation of traditional haycutting seems to have had the same effect in Europe. However, at least a few ''Formica'' species may be found in a wide range of habitats from cities to seasides to grasslands to swamps to forests of the temperate Northern Hemisphere.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

In more suburban landscapes, they tend to nest near structures such as sidewalks, fences, or building foundations.<ref name=":4" />

==Nests==
{{multiple image
| align = left
| image1 = Formica obscuripes 26474.JPG
| width1 = 170
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| image2 = Mercantour2.jpg
| width2 = 170
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| footer = ''[[Formica obscuripes|F. obscuripes]]'' mound (left) and a ''Formica'' mound on a rotting stump with worker ants (right)
}}

Mound-building, forest-dwelling ''Formica'' species groups such as ''[[Formica rufa species group|F. rufa]]'' often have a considerable effect on their environments.  They maintain large populations of aphids on the secretions of which they feed, and which the ants defend from other predators.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/bees-wasps-and-ants/southern-wood-ant/|title=habitat}}</ref> They also prey on other insects.  In fact, in many countries, they  are introduced in forests to control tree pests, such as [[Swaine jack pine sawfly]] and eastern tent caterpillars in North America. The effects of mound-building grassland species such as ''[[Formica montana|F. montana]]'' are not well-studied, but their local abundance, conspicuous mound-building, and very frequent association with aphids and membracids point to a comparably important ecological role.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

''Formica'' nests are of many different types from simple shaft-and-chamber excavations in soil with a small crater or turret of soil above to large mounds, under stones or logs, or in stumps.  None is arboreal. The genus is abundant in both the [[Nearctic]] and [[Palearctic]] regions.  Due to their relatively large size and diurnal activity, they are among the more commonly seen ants in northern North America.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}  Some species, including ''[[Formica rufa|F. rufa]]'', which is common in [[Southern England]], make large, visible thatch nests of dry plant stems, leaves, or conifer needles, usually based around a rotting stump.

Most ''Formica'' species are [[Gyne|polygynous]] (have multiple queens per colony), and some are [[Polydomy|polydomous]] (have multiple nests belonging to the same colony).<ref>Klotz, 2008: [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7T4gg6j7xUC&pg=PA33 p. 33]</ref> Queens may be singly or multiply mated, and may or may not be related.  ''[[Formica polyctena]]'' has polygynous colonies.<ref>Helantera, Heikki, and Liselotte Sundström. “Worker Reproduction in ''Formica'' Ants.” ''[[The American Naturalist]]'' , Vol. 170, No. 1 (July 2007).</ref>

Wood ants typically secrete [[formic acid]]; ''[[Formica rufa|F. rufa]]'' can squirt the acid from its acidopore several feet if alarmed, a habit which may have given rise to the archaic term for ant, "pismire", and by analogy its American equivalent "piss-ant". They can be relatively large; ''[[Formica rufa|F. rufa]]'' workers can reach a maximum length  around 10&nbsp;mm. The eastern US species ''[[Formica dolosa|F. dolosa]]'' and the western ''[[Formica ravida|F. ravida]]'' (syn. ''F. haemorrhoidalis'') may be slightly longer.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

[[File:Formica neogagates, alate.jpg|thumb|Alate ''[[Formica neogagates]]'']]

==Social characteristics==
Ants are [[Eusociality|eusocial]] organisms – the individuals of the species work together to survive,  produce the next generation, and accomplish tasks which cannot be accomplished alone.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Avril|first1=Amaury|last2=Purcell|first2=Jessica|last3=Chapuisat|first3=Michel|date=2016-04-07|title=Ant workers exhibit specialization and memory during raft formation|journal=The Science of Nature|language=en|volume=103|issue=5–6|page=36|doi=10.1007/s00114-016-1360-5|pmid=27056046|issn=0028-1042|bibcode=2016SciNa.103...36A|s2cid=17142619|url=https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_AD50ABD6EB78.P001/REF.pdf|access-date=2020-06-05|archive-date=2020-05-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506004527/https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_AD50ABD6EB78.P001/REF.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>  Unlike other ants, the genus ''Formica'' does not have separate [[caste]]s, which are based on an individual's specialization and morphology.  For example, ''[[Formica selysi|F. selysi]]'', a species native to [[floodplain]]s, has developed a method to deal with flooding.  Individual ants come together to form a living raft to survive the flood. Individual ants tend to take the position in the raft which they held in the past.  This return to the same role in the raft is an example of specialization.<ref name=":5" />

===Social parasitism ===
''Formica'' ants are notable for their socially parasitic behaviors.  The three categories are:<ref>Marek L. Borowiec et. al. "The evolution of social parasitism in Formica ants revealed by a
global phylogeny", https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.17.423324v1.full.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715233102/https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.17.423324v1.full.pdf |date=2023-07-15 }}</ref>

*In the ''[[Formica_exsecta|F. exsecta]]'' and ''[[Formica microgyna|F. rufa-microgyna]]'' groups, virgin queens cannot start colonies on their own, but invade colonies of other groups and by various processes eventually oust the host queen and have the host workers help them raise their own brood.  Eventually, the colony consists of only the invading queen's offspring.  This is called temporary social parasitism.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}
*In the ''[[Formica_sanguinea|F. sanguinea]]'' group, colonies are started as above, but in some species, workers raid colonies of other groups for new workers to act as a work force. ''[[Formica_sanguinea|F. sanguinea]]'' performs this behavior.<ref>cf. P. Huber via Darwin's ''[[Origin of Species]]'', in [http://www.bartleby.com/11/8003.html Chapter VIII. Instinct]</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2011}}
Some species of this group need to do this to survive, for others it is optional.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}
*The ''[[Formica pallidefulva|F. pallidefulva]], [[Formica neogagates|F. neogagates]]'', and ''[[Formica fusca|F. fusca]]'' groups are those most often parasitized by the above groups.  They are also captured as workforce by ants of the genus ''[[Polyergus]]''. The evolution of this behavior is believed ultimately to have been derived from the common habit of many ''Formica'' species of adopting recently mated queens into established colonies. Indeed, in many of the socially parasitic species that do not raid other species, this "secondary polygyny" is common.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

==Species==
{{main|List of Formica species}}
[[File:Formica accreta, with cocoons.jpg|thumb|''F. accreta'' worker, with cocoons]]
[[File:Formica integroides worker ant.jpg|thumb|''F. integroides'' worker]]
{{As of|2018}}, ''Formica'' contains at least [[List of Formica species|290 extant species]] and 59 extinct species.<ref name="AntCat"/><ref>{{Cite web
| title=Browse ''Formica''
| url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/browse/tree/id/b512d9bf6074ca329ca9a3e287507625
| website=Catalogue of Life
| access-date=2018-02-27
| archive-date=2019-11-15
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115053145/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/browse/tree/id/b512d9bf6074ca329ca9a3e287507625
| url-status=dead
}}</ref>

Species include:<ref name=itis>[https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=154211 ''Formica'' species list.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228162300/https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=154211 |date=2018-02-28 }} Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''[[Formica aquilonia]]'' <small>Yarrow, 1955</small>
* {{extinct}}''[[Formica biamoensis]]'' <small>Dlussky, Rasnitsyn & Perfilieva, 2015</small><ref name="Dlussky2015">{{Cite journal |last1=Dlussky |first1=G.M. |last2=Rasnitsyn |first2=A.P. |last3=Perfilieva |first3=K.S. |year=2015 |title=The Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bol'shaya Svetlovodnaya (Late Eocene of Sikhote-Alin, Russian Far East) |journal=Caucasian Entomological Bulletin |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=131–152 |doi=10.23885/1814-3326-2015-11-1-131-152 |url=http://ssc-ras.ru/files/files/24_Dlussky%20Rasnitsyn%20Perfilieva.pdf |doi-access=free |access-date=2016-06-06 |archive-date=2020-07-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716180618/http://www.ssc-ras.ru/files/files/24_Dlussky%20Rasnitsyn%20Perfilieva.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> 
* ''[[Formica cinerea]]'' <small>Mayr, 1853</small>
* ''[[Formica creightoni]]'' <small>Buren, 1968</small>
* ''[[Formica cunicularia]]'' <small>[[Pierre André Latreille|Latreille]], 1798</small>
* ''[[Formica dirksi]]''
* ''[[Formica exsecta]]'' <small>[[William Nylander (botanist)|Nylander]]</small>
* ''[[Formica exsectoides]]''
* ''[[Formica fusca]]'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]</small> (''F.'' (''Serviformica'') ''fusca'')
* ''[[Formica gagatoides]]'' <small>Ruzsky, 1904</small>
* ''[[Formica incerta]]''  <small>Emery, 1893</small>
* ''[[Formica japonica]]'' <small>Motschoulsky, 1866</small>
* ''[[Formica lasioides]]''
* ''[[Formica lemani]]'' <small>Bondroit</small>
* ''[[Formica lugubris]]'' <small>[[Johan Wilhelm Zetterstedt|Zetterstedt]], 1838</small>
* ''[[Formica obscuripes]]'' <small>Forel, 1886</small>
* ''[[Formica pacifica]]''
* {{extinct}}''[[Formica paleosibirica]]'' <small>Dlussky, Rasnitsyn & Perfilieva, 2015</small><ref name="Dlussky2015"/>
* ''[[Formica pallidefulva]]''<small> Latreille, 1802</small>
* ''[[Formica podzolica]]''
* ''[[Formica polyctena]]''
* ''[[Formica pratensis]]'' <small>Retzius</small>
* ''[[Formica rufa]]'' <small>Linnaeus, 1761</small>
* ''[[Formica rufibarbis]]'' <small>[[Johan Christian Fabricius|Fabricius]], 1793</small>
* ''[[Formica sanguinea]]''
* ''[[Formica subintegra]]'' <small>Wheeler, 1908</small>
* ''[[Formica subsericea]]''
* ''[[Formica talbotae]]'' <small>[[Jeffrey A. Wilson|Wilson]], 1977</small>
* ''[[Formica transkaucasica]]'' <small>Nasonov</small>
* ''[[Formica truncorum]]'' <small>Fabricius, 1804</small>
* ''[[Formica uralensis]]'' <small>Ruzsky, 1895</small>
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|refs=

<ref name="AWFormica">{{cite web |url=http://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=Formica&rank=genus&project=allantwebants |title=Genus: ''Formica'' |website=antweb.org |publisher=[[AntWeb]] |access-date=23 September 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051943/http://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=Formica&rank=genus&project=allantwebants |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="AWFormicidae">{{cite web |url=http://www.antweb.org//description.do?name=formicidae&rank=family&project=allantwebants |title=Family: Formicidae |website=antweb.org |publisher=[[AntWeb]] |access-date=2 October 2013 |archive-date=15 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715200815/https://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=formicidae&rank=family&project=allantwebants |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Klotz, J. H.|chapter=Formicinae|title=Urban ants of North America and Europe: identification, biology, and management|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-8014-7473-6|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7T4gg6j7xUC&pg=PA11}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Formica|''Formica''}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1194683}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Formica| ]]
[[Category:Ant genera]]
[[Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:Eocene first appearances]]