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Common black colored ant
Formica fusca
51.5769, 6.51406
Field Notes
Description:
Colonies are facultatively polygynous (though weakly so); though the queens coexist amicably, contribution to the brood tends to be unequal. Nests are usually small, containing 500–2,000 workers. The workers are large, at 8–10 millimetres (0.3–0.4 in) long, and fast moving, though timid. To ensure that non-nest mate eggs are not reared, these workers will engage in a process known as worker policing.
F. fusca feeds on small insects, aphid honeydew and extra floral nectaries. Alate (winged) forms are produced in June/July and nuptial flights are in July/August.
Habitat:
Formica fusca, a common black colored ant found in Europe, is a palaearctic ant with a range extending from Portugal in the west to Japan in the east and from Italy in the south to Fennoscandia in the north. F. fusca nests are usually found in rotten tree stumps or under stones in clearcut areas and along woodland borders and hedgerows.
Notes:
Pictures were taken in my garden where they were farming their aphids.
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