Antlord: Lasius umbratus (19. Jan 2008 11:17)

I was searching the web for some ant pictures and I came across this one of Lasuis umbratus. Is it normal for this species the gaster becomes that big?

http://formicarium.pl/galeria/albums/userpics/10023/umbro003.jpg

Skippy: (19. Jan 2008 11:24)

yes, it is able in big colonies , where queen has a big production of eggs :) ... you can see so big gaster at spring in nest of a lot of ant specie queens. I saw this year big camponotus ligniperda queen with so big gaster and she was about 22-23mm long :O :) , so it is able and it is food and eggs inside ;)

SteveUK28: (19. Jan 2008 12:39)

What a really nice ant.. Where r they from? And is it possible to buy them from somewhere?
Steve

Anonymous: (19. Jan 2008 13:09)

They live in Europe and as far as I remember also in the US.

ant dude: (19. Jan 2008 13:11)

What a really nice ant.. Where r they from? And is it possible to buy them from somewhere?
Steve

i agree really nice ants(btw thanks for sharing it with us :grin: ) i too would also like to buy this ant so...

ashhad1: (19. Jan 2008 14:26)

wow interesting and amazing and ya can u buy this ant maybe?

JimmyVe: (19. Jan 2008 14:48)

Nice big gaster in deed. Typical for queens after hibernation (like Skippy said).
These species are not so very common in Belgium, they live across Europe and maybe if you are lucky you can find one during swarming time.
They look big in this picture but they are the same size as a Lasius flavus .

Anonymous: (19. Jan 2008 14:48)

I don't know anyone who sells this species. But in summer they are quite easy to find. Sometimes there are lots of queens running arround after flight.
They found parasitically, so you need pupae or young workers of Lasius niger.

SteveUK28: (19. Jan 2008 15:14)

hmm perhaps some of our european friends could catch some come spring and sell/trade them to us brits :D

ant dude: (19. Jan 2008 15:23)

hmm perhaps some of our european friends could catch some come spring and sell/trade them to us brits

yeah go on somone please.....i'll pay good amount of cash...and maybe trade or even throw in a spear queen/colony myself with the money inscluded just send me a pm......or dont fogot thses guys too :wink: :P