ANTSTORE World of Ants

[nortino]

OK, I found this queen today (8th May) just walking on the pavement near my house - the weird thing is I haven't seen ANY alates at all this year, not one, so I wasn't expecting to find a mated queen. She looks a lot like my Lasius niger queens, but last year the L. niger mating flights here were in August, and there were thousands of them flying around and on the pavenment, but today I haven't seen any other queens, just this one. Do other Lasius species mate earlier in the year? Anybody think it's weird to find just one mated queen like this, without seeing any flying ants?

Anyway, here she is, somebody please tell me she isn't another L. niger!







Sorry, forgot to mention she was found in Bournemouth, south coast of the UK.

[miszt]

maybe her colony died and she left, or there may have been a local flight last night you didnt notice, it has been very warm recently, and I believe the humidity is going up allot on the coast ready for rain in the next few days, so maybe she just got confused, although it seems she has been mated, so she cant be the only queen to have got confused

[JimmyVe]

My guess, a small local flight.
And i think it is a Lasius niger

[nortino]

lol, yeah I have to admit she does look like L. niger . . . I was kind of holding out for L. fuliginosus, but not to worry, I'll look after her anyway and see if she has interesting-looking babies . . .

[tail__]

Could be also Lasius brunneus, they usually mate earlier than niger, mostly in June but sometimes also in May. A week ago I saw the royal cocoons in a destroyed nest of L. brunneus in a cut tree, so alates can be ready now. Lasius brunneus queen is also black like L. niger. But of course it can be also very early niger