The Narrow-headed Ant has an unusual distribution in the UK, found only in one site in south Devon and a few locations in Scotland, but this is not the only unusual thing about this species. Here the authors provide an in-depth account of the history of the Narrow-headed Ant in the UK, and describe its nest architecture, behaviour, ecology and life history.
There, on a low raised tussock, was a thatch of yellowing nibbled grass fragments bathed in sunlight, tonsured among a fringe of taller stems: the last Narrow-headed Ant Formica exsecta nest on Bovey Heath, south Devon – and it was dying out.