''Myrmica rubra'', also known as the common red ant or the European fire ant, is a species of ant of the genus ''

Myrmica ''Myrmica'' is a genus of ants within the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is widespread throughout the temperate regions of the Holarctic realm, Holarctic and high mountains in Southeast Asia. The genus consists of around 200 known species and additio ...

''. It is found across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and is now invasive in some parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It is mainly red in colour, with slightly darker pigmentation on the head. These ants live under stones and fallen trees, and in soil. They are aggressive, often attacking rather than running away, and are equipped with a stinger, though they lack the ability to spray

formic acid Formic acid (), systematically named methanoic acid, is the simplest carboxylic acid. It has the chemical formula HCOOH and structure . This acid is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some an ...

like the genus ''

Formica ''Formica'' is a genus of ants 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. The type ...

''. This species is very similar to '' M. ruginodis'', but ''M. rubra'' is the commoner of the two. The larvae of the butterflies '' Phengaris alcon'' (Alcon blue) and '' P. teleius'' (scarce large blue) use ''M. rubra'' as their primary host.

Distribution and habitat

This is one of the most common and widespread ''Myrmica'' species of the

Palaearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

. It occurs in the region stretching from Portugal to East Siberia (as far as Transbaikalia), and from northern Greece to the forest-tundra zone in the North. It has also been introduced to

in northwestern and northeastern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and in western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, where it is considered an

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

. These ants are very common in Europe and the UK and live in meadows and gardens. They live on a diet of honeydew excreted by

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects in the Taxonomic rank, family Aphididae. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white Eriosomatinae, woolly ...

s and feed on many types of insect and other invertebrates. They will attack any creature that disturbs their nest, but are not as aggressive as the

red imported fire ant ''Solenopsis invicta'', the fire ant, or red imported fire ant (RIFA), is a species of ant native to South America. A member of the genus ''Fire ant, Solenopsis'' in the subfamily Myrmicinae, it was Species description, described by Swiss ento ...

. They also consume

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

, a phenomenon rarely documented in ants of the temperate zone.

Identification

Workers are yellowish brown in colour, 3.5 to 5.5 mm in length. Have smooth and shiny frontal triangle and subspinal areas; long and slender antennal scapes.

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

are similar to workers with larger

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

to store wing muscles. Typically 5.5 to 7.0 mm in length. While it is still somewhat unknown, it is believed that there is another reproductive morph referred to as microrubra that was formerly believed to be a social parasite of ''M. rubra.'' These queens are smaller in size more comparable to that of the workers. Males have a darker body colour compared to the queens and workers. They have long projecting hairs on their tibiae and tarsi, this is the easiest way to tell them apart from '' M. ruginodis.''

Behavior

This ant's colonies have a polygyne form and can include up to one hundred queens per nest. These queens will have gathered together after their

nuptial flight Nuptial flight is an important phase in the reproduction of most ant, termite, and some bee species. It is also observed in some fly species, such as '' Rhamphomyia longicauda''. During the flight, virgin queens mate with males and then land ...

, formed a nest and laid their eggs in it. The species is also polydomous, with many nest sites per individual colony. The queens can live up to fifteen years. Nuptial flights take place normally in late July to mid-August in Europe. Hundreds of young queens and males take to the air to mate together. Afterwards, the males die and the queens shed their wings to make a new colony. No nuptial flights have been witnessed yet from this species where it is living in

, however male-only mating swarms have been recorded in Newfoundland, Canada. In addition to the regular queens (macrogynes), ''M. rubra'' also have a microgyne caste. These queens are smaller in size compared to the macrogyne and were previously believed to be a different species of social parasite ( M. microrubra). More recent DNA analysis suggest that they share a gene pool with the macrogyne and are therefor not a different species. While the roles of these microgynes are not yet fully understood, they are often found in nests with regular queens and this is believed to be a form of intraspecific parasitism where the microgyne are a social parasite of the larger macrogyne. The microgynes are also known to act as an alternative reproductive morph and found their own colonies. The ants explore the surrounding area around their nest and look for materials, both plant and animal, to feed their colonies. When they find dead bodies, undertakers pick up the dead bodies and quickly carry them away from their nest up to away. They choose locations randomly, and so this species does not create

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...

References

External links

Ant wiki information on ''Myrmica rubra''.Brief report
from the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

on the management of ''Myrmica rubra'' in the U.S., with extensive additional references {{Taxonbar, from=Q650996 Myrmica Hymenoptera of Europe Insects described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus