ANTSTORE World of Ants

[sithmaster676]

no not that they keep them as slaves i boosted my Formica fusca colony after a disease struck with Lasius niger brood and they were accepted as there own
Sithmaster676

[JimmyVe]

Ah, well that is possible. But than we do not talk about slaves, these are more accepted like there own (like you say).

[tail__]

Generally Lasius niger ants do not accept new queens, but it is possible to do it in formicarium. Ants should be cooled a bit in fridge - this will make them less active and less agressive. Hovewer, there is no guarantee of success. But there is another way. Ants of Chthonolasius subgenus (Lasius umbratus, Lasius bicornis, Lasius citrinus) are specialised in overtaking Lasius niger colonies - even colonies with queen present. A L. umbratus queen searches for a Lasius niger nest and then kills one worker. Then she enters the nest with dead worker in mandibles, using it as camouflage, so the workers allow her pass. Then she searches for larvas, touches them and gets their scent. Now she is accepted by L. niger workers as their own queen. I don't know if she kills legal L. niger queen or uses chemical propaganda to convince workers to do the job, but after few days L. niger queen is dead and L.umbratus queen starts to produce her own brood. These species are quite common everywhere where L. niger lives, but are rarely seen and can be mistaken for Lasius flavus - they are also yellow and live only underground, but workers are a bit larger. So, if you manage to get L. umbratus queen, she would be ideal for replacement in an orphaned colony.

[miszt]

very intresting stuff tail_

[sithmaster676]

sounds like that may work but would properly be quite hard trying to find this species
sithmaster676

[tail__]

You won't see them every day, but they aren't rare. Not so numerous as L. niger, of course, but I've met two queens this summer on town streets, without any searching. They are smaller than other Lasius queens, so they are harder to spot, they have small abdomen and from distance look a bit like worker of larger species, and if they still have wings, look similar to male ants, but with bigger head. (see pictures in internet, e.g. here: Hyperlinks sind nur für registrierte Nutzer sichtbar ) I've read a few diaries of people keeping these ants in formicarium - all of their queens were succesfully adopted by queenless L. niger colony, or even a semi-colony with L. niger workers taken from natural nests. I never did such thing, but maybe i'll try next year. The funny fact is that queenless L. umbratus colony is sometimes host of a queen of another Lasius species - L. fuliginosus - for me, the most impressive species of Lasius genus. (they probably don't kill umbratus queen) This means that two consequent "revolutions" are needed to start L. fuliginosus colony.