F. sanguinea, are facultative slave-makers, meaning colonies can live either alone or be parasitic.
This allows them to be a good model organism to study the origins of ant slave-making.
A fertilized F. sanguinea queen will enter the nest of the host ant species and kill their queen.
She then takes advantage of the workers who tend to her and her brood.
F. sanguinea workers will also raid nearby nests, stealing larvae and pupae to become future workers for F. sanguinea.
The raids are also not exclusively for acquiring slave workers but are sometimes predation events.

F. sanguinea has not been observed to have division of labor in which certain individuals raid or forage.

This excludes them from the eusocial groups of Hymenoptera.
However, some individuals possess more Dufour's gland compounds than others, which presumably would be more successful in slave raids.

Formica sanguinea uses scouting individuals to locate the nest that will be parasitized.
Once a nest has been scouted, the raid will happen.
The activities that go on during a raid are composed of digging and fighting at the target nest.
Both slaves and slave-makers are observed to be carrying the brood back to the slave-maker nest.
If a member of the colony is killed in the war, individuals will take that carcass back to the nest to be eaten later.
Raids were also never observed on rainy or overcast days.
This is thought to be because of the detriment rain might have on terrestrial conditions and the effectiveness of alarm pheromones.
F. sanguinea, are facultative slave-makers, meaning colonies can live either alone or be parasitic. This allows them to be a good model organism to study the origins of ant slave-making. A fertilized F. sanguinea queen will enter the nest of the host ant species and kill their queen. She then takes advantage of the workers who tend to her and her brood. F. sanguinea workers will also raid nearby nests, stealing larvae and pupae to become future workers for F. sanguinea. The raids are also not exclusively for acquiring slave workers but are sometimes predation events.
F. sanguinea has not been observed to have division of labor in which certain individuals raid or forage.
This excludes them from the eusocial groups of Hymenoptera. However, some individuals possess more Dufour's gland compounds than others, which presumably would be more successful in slave raids.
Formica sanguinea uses scouting individuals to locate the nest that will be parasitized. Once a nest has been scouted, the raid will happen. The activities that go on during a raid are composed of digging and fighting at the target nest. Both slaves and slave-makers are observed to be carrying the brood back to the slave-maker nest. If a member of the colony is killed in the war, individuals will take that carcass back to the nest to be eaten later. Raids were also never observed on rainy or overcast days. This is thought to be because of the detriment rain might have on terrestrial conditions and the effectiveness of alarm pheromones.
Formica sanguinea