Japanese wood ant
The Japanese wood ant is one of the most common ants in Japan. It lives in big families in nests in the soil, sometimes with thousands of workers. Many nests even have more than one queen.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
A nest can have up to 22 queens, but most have between 2 and 9.
Ants from the same nest share the same smell, which helps them know who is family.
Sometimes ants put small bits of food on top of a big piece and use it like a little cart.
Workers have different jobs, like looking after the babies, finding food or guarding the nest, and they can switch jobs when needed.
New queens and males leave the nest on a wedding flight to find partners.
Most asked questions about Japanese wood ant
?Where does the Japanese wood ant live?
In Japan, where it is one of the most common ants, and also in Korea, China, Taiwan, Mongolia and Russia.
?How many queens does a Japanese wood ant nest have?
Usually between 2 and 9, but a nest can have as many as 22.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Formica japonica
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Formica japonica (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Kumon. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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