Formica obscuripes is a species of ant

Ant

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...

 in the family Formicidae. Endemic to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, F. obscuripes produces large mounds covered by small pieces of plant material. The number of adult workers per colony may reach as high as 35,000 - 40,000. F. obscuripes feed upon a number of insect species, consume nectar from homopterous

Homoptera

Homoptera is a deprecated suborder of order Hemiptera; recent morphological studies and DNA analysis strongly suggests that the order is paraphyletic. It was therefore split into the suborders Sternorrhyncha, Auchenorrhyncha, and Coleorrhyncha....

insects they tend, and occasionally eat plant tissue.