Polyergus rufescens
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Polyergus rufescens is a species of slave-making ant native to southern Europe and parts of Asia, commonly referred to as the European Amazon ant or as the slave-making ant. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look after the colony and reliant on ants of another species to undertake these tasks. To replenish these servant ants, it raids nearby ant colonies and carries home pupae and larvae, and these are reared to provide future workers for the colony. A newly mated female P. rufescens needs to make its way into one of these "host" nests, kill the host queen, and be accepted by the host workers in her place.
P. rufescens workers in western and southwestern Europe are dark red, while eastern specimens are more orange-red. Darker ants often have a purplish or brownish tinge to their gasters and appendages. Morphologically, ants of this species are similar to the Mexican Polyergus topoffi, but have narrower heads and petioles and the first tergites of their gasters are more hairy. The total length of this ant is 4.7 to 7 mm (0.19 to 0.28 in).
P. rufescens is native to parts of Europe including Spain, France, the Netherlands... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a European Amazon Ant sighting in Vienna on a given day, based on 33 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 416th most-seen of the 1406 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June to August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a European Amazon Ant in Vienna on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months. Those are among Vienna's wettest months, with about 90 mm of rain a month against 40 mm in February.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most European Amazon Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Among the best
Of the 4 cities where we can rate European Amazon Ant sightings, Vienna ranks 3rd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Kyiv (Ukraine, under 5%) and Bucharest (Romania, under 5%).
Same family: Formicidae
The closest relatives of the European Amazon Ant that you can see in Vienna (family Formicidae, Ants) are Central European Bicolored Ant (about 10%), Dolichoderus quadripunctatus (about 10%) and Hairy Carpenter Ant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the European Amazon Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in Vienna (33 verified sightings), 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.
