ANTSTORE World of Ants

[JimmyVe]

not sure about the species, any one ?

[Philsen]

Hi,

maybe Lasius fuliginosus, but im absolute not sure.

Can u make better pics, from the side, frontal
and a top view!? And can u tell us anything about
the size of these queen?

[JimmyVe]

Okay i'm sorry.
in deed, i should have know that.

she is not very big (a bit smaller than a Lasius nger queen)
i do not have better pictures now, shall try to make some if i have time.

i found here in my garden here yesterday evening about 5pm.

[Skippy]

Hej Jimmy

Lasius fuliginosus queen is not big ,it is like Lasius niger ,but with smaller gaster. You need to make colony some cocoons of some Lasius spec. She has small gaster what I see ,so let go to feed her. Lasius fuliginosus making colony like you maybe know - she come to nest of Lasius flavus/brunneus or some spec. else and she kill their queen.... or steal some cocoons and get it to her starter nest - so you must to get here some cocoons.

Greetings Skippy

[JimmyVe]

okay. thanks. i shall try to do that. i have one spare colony of Lasius niger. i let you know if it works out well.

[acerola]

It is really look like a fuliginosus. It has heart shaped head and shiny black. But I seen only workers yet.
It is enough to put some brood and a couple of worker to the queen. You can isolate the workers from their queens for a few days and then put the ants together. It helps if you cool the workers down a bit befoure they met. The younger the worker the better chance for accepting the queen. You must put brood (larva is essential) and maybe eggs to the queen also.
I tried this with a Formica rufa queen and some Formica rufibarbis workers. That is also a social parasitic species. They accepted the queen, but I did not put brood to them yet so the queen did not start making eggs.

[JimmyVe]

Thanks, i already put some cocoon of my Lasius flavus with the queen, and i'm trying with some workers also. hope it works out.

[acerola]

That's good Jimmy. Worker is the most difficult as they can attack the queen (but that is the most interesting thing also). But you can add the workers to the new colony as cocoon without any problem.

[JimmyVe]

For now everything looks good, i keep you posted.

[acerola]

OK, I'm interested. I like to photograph them. They have huge colonies. With crowded pathways, something is happen every time. Here is some pictures from them.

[JimmyVe]

nice pictures, You keep them yourself ?

[acerola]

No. I think they have very big colonies for me. I don't have much room for the ants. But I know a couple places where they have big colonies. For example in a riverside where they live on willow trees and poplar trees all along the water and their nest are interconnected. They were one of the first insect in the spring I met there.

[Kale^^]

Really good pictures, lol. I like those pics a lot.

[JimmyVe]

update:
My queen is still alive, but no eggs jet.

[acerola]

Do you added some eggs and larva to her already? I think it is neccessary for Formica rufa to have larvas in her nest in order to develop some gland of her. Maybe fuliginosus is working the same way.