Common black ant, Formica fusca
Common black ant, Formica fusca © Sedeer El-Showk, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license
These active and alert yet timid ants are found in the Midlands and southern England. They live in tree stumps, under stones in logged areas or along woodland borders and hedgerows. Colony numbers tend to be small, usually less than 1,000 workers.
The ants feed on small insects, aphid honeydew and extrafloral nectaries (areas of a plant that produce nectar away from the flower).
Interestingly, workers of this species have been found to have a very high resistance to some infections, maybe due to the antibiotic properties found in the formic acid they secrete when under threat.
