Four-Spotted Odorous Ant Dolichoderus quadripunctatus

Described by Carl Linnaeus over 250 years ago, this four-spotted ant has conquered an astonishing range spanning all of Europe and Asia. Its remarkable geographic success hints at a generalist survivor—an ant so adaptable it thrives across wildly different climates and ecosystems, quietly building colonies from the Atlantic to the Pacific and becoming foundational to countless food webs.