Red-barbed ant  (Formica rufibarbis)

This species is threatened by habitat loss resulting from building development and agricultural intensification of heathland. Scrub invasion, unsuitable heathland management, trampling, excessive disturbance of nests and severe or over-frequent heathland fires also pose risks (3). Furthermore, the slave-making ant Formica saguinea is a problem, as it steals the broods of other ant species, resulting in the death of the slave provider nest (5).

A UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) priority species, the red-barbed ant has a Species Action Plan that coordinates its conservation. This plan aims to maintain all current populations, and restore the species to sites within the former range by 2010 (3). This ant is also part of English Nature's Species Recovery Programme, and research and monitoring work has been conducted on this species under this programme (4). Three nests with queens were taken into captivity in 1999, and were being maintained. One of these nests was introduced into the wild, and further releases have been proposed in order to bolster the Surrey population. Supplementary feeding has also been undertaken and nests of the slave-making ant F. sanguinea have been removed from areas supporting the red-barded ant (4). Both of the Surrey sites are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and one is a National Nature Reserve (NNR); they therefore receive a degree of protection, and management measures have been targeted at the species (3).