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 species of genus Formica is the European red wood ant Formica rufa. Ants of this genus tend to be between 4 and 8 mm long.

Formica

Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak · CC BY-SA 2.5 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
FormiciniPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 40 million years on record.

The record covers at least 41.03 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 74 of 153 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 13 of 153 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 60 of 153 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 153 occurrencesPleistocene — about 6 of 153 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 29 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 32 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 9 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 3 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 4 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 5 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 41 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences8.2–6.5 Mya — about 3 occurrences6.5–4.9 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences41.03 Mya129 ka49 Mya0 Mya

153 occurrences of Formica on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

153 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Upper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°ESalt — 47.69°N, 7.53°EHachiya — 35.48°N, 137.11°EAustralian Creek — 52.97°N, 122.50°WPoole — 50.67°N, 2.09°WFayette sandstone — 30.49°N, 96.34°WCypris — 50.08°N, 12.54°EKap København — 82.47°N, 23.66°WKishenehn — 48.39°N, 113.70°WHarudi — 23.72°N, 68.84°E

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The named rock units Formica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 85 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Formica and its relatives

Eocene

Where Formica and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

3,447 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 79 sites for Formica, and this reads all of them. Of that, one read hit the database's own return limit, so every count below is a floor rather than a total. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

34 references

Each of the 153 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 22 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Formica

Credit
Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.5
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itFormicini through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758