Editing Formica (section)

==Habitat==
As the name wood ant implies, many ''Formica'' species live in wooded areas<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jukuri.luke.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/551547/Sorvari_2022.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=habitat}}</ref> where no shortage of material exists with which they can thatch their mounds (often called anthills<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/anthill|title = Anthill}}</ref>). One shade-tolerant species is ''[[Formica lugubris|F. lugubris]]''. However, sunlight is  important to most ''Formica'' species, and colonies rarely survive for any considerable period in deeply shaded, dense woodland.  The majority of species, especially outside the [[Formica rufa group|''F. rufa'' species group]], are inhabitants of more open woodlands or treeless grassland or shrubland. In North America, at least, these habitats had a long history of frequent landscape-scale fires that kept them open before European settlement. Conversion to agriculture and fire suppression have reduced the abundance of most American ''Formica'' species, while the cessation of traditional haycutting seems to have had the same effect in Europe. However, at least a few ''Formica'' species may be found in a wide range of habitats from cities to seasides to grasslands to swamps to forests of the temperate Northern Hemisphere.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

In more suburban landscapes, they tend to nest near structures such as sidewalks, fences, or building foundations.<ref name=":4" />