HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Aculeata > Formicidae > Myrmicinae > Myrmicini

I don't understand why I can't confidently identify these individuals, so I thought it would be useful to include them rather than leaving the images on my hard-drive to gather dust.

They were small, probably around 4-5mm, and there were about a dozen of them that I could see, all clustered together on the underside of a relatively small piece of deadwood that I'd lifted in search of Myriapods, woodlice and springtails, or anything else I could find on this rather cold January morning.

As the photos show, they were a uniform bright yellowish-red colour and noticeably shiny. They have very clear longitudinal sculpturing along the head, alitrunk and petiole much like Myrmica ruginodis but with a far more uniform pattern on the alitrunk. The propodeal spines are long and sharp, again much like Myrmica ruginodis but, to me, they seem straighter and more parallel. The base of the antennae are gently curved, possibly less so that in Myrmica ruginodis, but only marginally. I wish there was a clearer view of the junction between the petiole and postpetiole as that would be a good indicator. I can't see a notch.

Yet, having looked carefully at all the other Myrmica species, I may just have to accept that they have to be the common Woodland Red Ant, Myrmica ruginodis.