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robroy865: Classification of ant species (25. Jul 2011 22:15)

I recently (21 July 2011) caught queens after their mating flight. Unfortunately I have no idea which species these ants are. I caught them in the Uppland area of Sweden. They are black, and some have white/yellow stripes on top parts of their abdomens. They are about 1.5 cm in length. They look like the Lasius niger queen that I have but slightly larger (and with the stripes where the segments meet).

My question is therefore (rather than just getting an idea of which species this is, although this would be appreciated :D ), how do you go about identifying which species you have?

R

DigiSERBIA: Re: Classification of ant species (25. Jul 2011 22:20)

If u want your species to be indentified u need to upload some pictures...

robroy865: Re: Classification of ant species (25. Jul 2011 22:46)

Unfortunately it is quite difficult to get a nice picture without disturbing them/ removing them from their tubes. As mentioned previously they are from the uppland area in Sweden and are about 1.5 cm long. The tubes have a slight blue color, and horisontal scaring which are distorting the picture a bit.

Any help would be appreciated. However, I would appreciate it if someone can point me to a guide for identification of ants. Something that will enable me to, for example count the segments on the antennae or compare the eye form under a dissecting microscope, and use features like these to get to the species. A compendium that entomologists would use...

But here is a picture in any case.

Thanks
R unknown species.jpg

Creature: Re: Classification of ant species (26. Jul 2011 06:22)

On the pictures those queens look like Lasius sp. to me. But if you say that they are about 1,5 cm long i would guess its a Formica sp

robroy865: Re: Classification of ant species (26. Jul 2011 06:48)

Thank you. I will look into literature on Formica For more information.

R