Scottish wood ant  (Formica aquilonia)

The Scottish wood ant is found throughout the Scottish Highlands (2), reaching as far north as Ross and Sutherland. It reaches west and south to the West Highlands and Argyll. It has been found on the Islands of Skye and Arran and there is a single strong population in Armagh, Northern Ireland (4). Elsewhere, this ant occurs in Europe from the Alps to Siberia and from Arctic Norway in the north as far south as northern Italy (3).

This wood ant can thrive in undisturbed pine forest and old birch woodland and has also been recorded on the edges of plantations (4)(2).