Identification keys and general biology are give in Morgan (1984), Kunz (1994) and Mingo (1994).

The Ponerinae are a phylogenetically primitive subfamily (Hölldobler & Wilson 1990). All castes of the two ponerine genra found in Britain, Ponera and Hypoponera, are readily distinguishable from other British ants by the constriction between the first and second segments of their gasters. Ponerines are also the only ants in Britain with female castes that possess both a single-segmented petiole and a sting.Workers and queens of Ponera differ from those of Hypoponera in the form of the subpetiolar process (figured for both species by Bolton &… Read more

Myrmica schencki was added to the British list by Donisthorpe (1915) from Welsh specimens initially thought to be M. lobicornis. Workers and queens of both of these species have the antennal scape sharply angled at the base, with this bend bearing a broad upright flange. However, in M. schencki this flange is more strongly developed, with the width across the frontal lobes consequently smaller (e.g. Seifert 1998; Bolton 2005; Pontin 2005).

Despite its generic name, this species is not classed as a wood ant.

This species was formerly recorded as Formica candida Smith, 1878 or Formica transkaucasica Nasonov, 1889. It is in a group of darker, more slender and agile species (the Serviformica) which includes the similar black species, F. fusca and F. lemani. Formica picea can be distinguished by its characteristic pilosity and shiny cuticle.

Lasius brunneus was first recorded in Britain by Donisthorpe in 1923 (Donisthorpe, 1927). It was not included as a British species in the first edition of Donisthorpe's British Ants (Donisthorpe 1915) and yet, within its current range, it is now locally common and easy to find. Workers of this species look superficially like the common black garden ant L. niger but can be distinguished by, their lighter brownish-red head and alitrunk contrasting with a dark gaster and an absence of standing hairs on the scapes.

Although found in other trees, occasionally in dead… Read more

Until recently the ant Temnothorax albipennis was known as Leptothorax albipennis (=tuberointerruptus) and had been misidentified as Temnothorax tuberum in Britain. It appears that all mainland records of Temnothorax tuberum refer to T. albipennis (Orledge, 1998). Whether the Channel Islands records for T. tuberum are similarly in error is unknown, although they are included here on the T. albipennis map. Workers of T. albipennis are smaller than those of Leptothorax acervorum, and generally… Read more

Leptothorax acervorum is the only species remaining in Leptothorax after the other four British species were moved to Temnothorax (Bolton 2003). L. acervorum are small myrmicine ants with distinct propodeal spines and three-segmented antennal clubs. L. acervorum are larger than the British Temnothorax species and can be distinguished by an 11-segmented antenna in the females (12 in males); the Temnothorax species have one extra funicular segment.