Formica sanguinea
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Formica sanguinea, or blood-red ant, is a species of facultative slave-maker ant in the genus Formica characterized by the ability to secrete formic acid. It ranges from Central and Northern Europe through Russia to Japan, China, the Korean Peninsula, Africa and also the United States. This species is coloured red and black with workers up to 7 mm long.
A colony of F. sanguinea can live either as a free colony or as a social parasite of Formica species, most commonly Formica fusca, Formica japonica, Formica hayashi and Formica rufibarbis. Blood-red ants, F. sanguinea, are facultative slave-makers, meaning colonies can live either alone or be parasitic. This allows them to be a good model organism to study the origins of brood stealing. A fertilized F. sanguinea queen will enter the nest of the host ant species and kill their queen. She then takes advantage of the workers who tend to her and her brood. F. sanguinea workers will also raid nearby nests, stealing larvae and pupae to become future workers for F. sanguinea. The raids are also not exclusively for acquiring new workers but are sometimes predation events.
Formica sanguinea has not been observed to have division... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Blood-Red Field Ant sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 241st most-seen of the 300 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Blood-Red Field Ant in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June and August–March, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blood-Red Field Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Blood-Red Field Ant sightings, Cairngorms National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Pyrénées National Park (France, about 10%) and Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blood-Red Field Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in Cairngorms National Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
