The red forest ants live in deciduous and coniferous forests in Europe (missing in the south), in temperate Siberia and North America. They always set up their anthill where the sun’s rays can reach the ground. Despite intensive protective measures, forest ants are becoming increasingly rare.
The workers of the red forest ants are 4 – 7 mm, the queen and males 9 – 11 m tall; they show a reddish brown color, but the back part has a black color. Of course, the red forest ant lives in the welfare state. In a large nest of red forest ant can live 300,000 – 600,000 workers, who are mainly looking for food. In an anthill, hundreds of ant queens can live; on the other hand, ant castle of the red forest ants, which possess only a queen.
Often, two types, namely Formica rufa (monogyne ants = a queen) and Formica polyctena (polygynous ants = many queens) are distinguished.
