Formica rufa
Identification suggestions (from the community or from AI) and the information here may be wrong; this app never confirms that anything is safe to eat. Do not consume wild plants, mushrooms or seafood without expert confirmation. Nothing here is medical advice.
It has no sting but bites and sprays formic acid into the wound; it burns in the eyes or on broken skin. Disturbing the mound triggers thousands spraying at once. The nests are legally protected in forests.
Ask an adult
Black head and abdomen with reddish-brown thorax and legs
Dome nest heaped from pine needles and twigs, sometimes waist-high
Curls the abdomen forward to spray acid when defending