ANTSTORE World of Ants

[Harwood]

Sorry if this question is answered in an obious place that I've overlooked. I'm strongly considering ordering a Messor structor queen or two from ANTSTORE when they become available, and I was wondering if anybody knew when they're generally collected.

They seem like a very interesting species to observe, what with the large, polymorphic workers and the possibility for a polygenic colony. And every source I've looked at says that Messors in general aren't all that difficult to keep, which is important since I've only kept a single wood ant colony previously (Formica rufus, I think, but it's hard to tell. I might get a couple more species once the mating flights kick into gear here in Denmark - Lasius niger shouldn't be too hard to find!)

[Harwood]

I see that Messor barbarus is available already, and if I understand Andie's (fascinating) thread correctly, they've been available for a couple of months (do they really do nuptial flights that early in the year, or have I misunderstood and the queen is from last year?)

I'm tempted to go ahead and order a Messor barbarus queen immediately, depending on if/when Messor structor becomes available.