ANTSTORE World of Ants (F)  >> English forum (F)  >> Help to identify ant species (F)
Click to view full story of "Help to identify a ant"

Kjetil-Hestvik: Help to identify a ant (2. Mai 2012 17:46)

Hi

I gotta admit, i just recently got into ants but im pretty sure this is one, or well i hope :) Found it today on my bathroom mirror have no idea if its a king or queen but my guess is the second. Specie i found that looks the most alike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formica_rufa

Not the best pictures, lenght is about 1cm. Found in Norway

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/6581/ant1j.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/6236/ant2m.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/714/ant3c.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/6281/ant4h.jpg

DigiSERBIA: Re: Help to identify a ant (2. Mai 2012 18:08)

Unfertilized queen.... :( Go out and try to find this exact queen without wings. It looks like some kind of Formica to me,not sure what subspecies to be exact

baumarkthammer: Re: Help to identify a ant (2. Mai 2012 19:00)

That is a Formica queen.
Probably a queen of some Formica sensu stricto species since only they should be swarming now.

They are social parasites of other Formica like Formica fusca. Or rather need to steal brood from them to start the colony without their host they will die quite fast.

With those images it is impossible to see what species this ant is from.
Like DigiSERBIA said the queen is probably unfertilized because they normally lose their wings after mating. However some don´t.

Formica sensu stricto are protected by law in Germany, I think they probably aren´t in Norway but you probably should look into that before keeping her.

Kjetil-Hestvik: Re: Help to identify a ant (2. Mai 2012 19:04)

Aint planning on keeping this one, not ready to start any colony just yet sadly. But got curious when i found her inside today, first time i have ever seen one, thanks for the feedback! :)