11 replies to this topic

[Hikari]

1. Location of collection: In flowerpot on my porch, McDonald, OH (in the NE part of the state)

2. Date of collection: 6-5-17
3. Habitat of collection: Organic potting soil in flower pot. Porch has lots of trees and shrubs nearby, with small wooded areas further out.

4. Length: Aprox. 7mm. Was having to try measuring her while she was running around a tube.
5. Coloration, hue, pattern and texture: Head and body are a brownish-orange on top, changing to a dull orange color on the underside. Gaster is dark brown/black. Whole ant is shiny. No noticeable hair.
6. Distinguishing characteristics: One petiole node. Appears to have a gaster stinger. She's too small for me to make out anything else of note.
7. Anything else distinctive: Very fast and constantly running if she gets out of her tube. Looks like she could sting, but hasn't. In tube, she prefers to relax on the wet cotton on her water side (she actually hasn't left it since settling in), so good chance she prefers higher humidity. The potting soil she was in was also quite moist.
8. Nest description: Nothing much to speak of. As far as I know, she was all alone in the dirt. I looked for eggs/brood/workers in the bit of dirt I pulled her out in, but didn't spot anything.

 

Pics (she was small so this was the best I could do):

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius umbratus. She has no sting; that is an acidopore.

 

http://www.formicult...cial-parasites/

Edited by Batspiderfish, June 5 2017 - 8:42 PM.

[Antking117]

better than what i could do.

[Nathant2131]

Lasius umbratus. She has no sting; that is an acidopore.
 
http://www.formicult...cial-parasites/

Wow, even this girl isn't shiny enough to be L. speculiventris?

[Batspiderfish]

 

Lasius umbratus. She has no sting; that is an acidopore.
 
http://www.formicult...cial-parasites/

Wow, even this girl isn't shiny enough to be L. speculiventris?

 

 

As long as the first gastral tergite is equally shiny as the others, then no. Past the first tergite, L.speculiventris would not have that matte look caused by fine pubescence.

 

Again, most of the images online (including antwiki) featuring Lasius speculiventris queens are actually Lasius umbratus.

Edited by Batspiderfish, June 6 2017 - 10:31 AM.

[Hikari]

Lasius umbratus. She has no sting; that is an acidopore.

 

http://www.formicult...cial-parasites/

 

Thanks for the ID! (Also the info on the acidopore). I'd love to give raising her a go if I can find her the right host ants. I did some wiki'ing and found that her species likes to take L. Niger. Problem is, I still really suck at IDing ants. I couldn't get much out of looking them up besides "small brownish or black ants with one petiole", so I went out back, captured what I thought looked the closest to the pics I Googled, and hope one of them is the right thing.

 

Apologizes in the quality. My poor phone is at it's limit with these tiny gals.

Here's the first set. They were in the colony I evicted from my flowerpots yesterday (and are already repairing the damage I did where I deposited their dirt pile), and were all over the place on my porch before I cleaned things up. They are 3mm long, black-ish brown, one petiole, and shiny (if they have any hair on them, it's too fine for me to see even with my magnifying glass):

 

 

 

 

 

Now this girl's colony resides in a rotten tree branch (her colony actually is close neighbors with a Camponotus colony, yet they don't seem to mind each other being so close). She's 5mm long, has a petiole that looks like a spike, solid black, and shiny. Underthe magnifying glass, I can make out tiny light-colored hairs on her gaster in the lines separating the sections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a third set of ants I picked up as well, but as soon as I saw they had two petiole nodes, I eliminated them from the possibilities. Anyways, if either of these are at least Lasius (if not L.Niger), I might still be able to try introducing them to my queen. If not, I'll probably just release her since I probably won't be able to find her a proper host.

[Canadian anter]

she's ok with camponotus because she IS Camponotus

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius alienus is probably the favorite host species of Lasius umbratus, but in my experience, I don't think this social parasite is very picky. The colony I am starting right now was set up with flavus-group workers.

 

Your worker sample from the first set of photographs is a Lasius species, probably L. neoniger or L. pallitarsis. These should work out fine.

 

The other worker looks like Camponotus pennsylvanicus.

Edited by Batspiderfish, June 6 2017 - 7:57 PM.

[Hikari]

she's ok with camponotus because she IS Camponotus

 

Really?! I mean, I knew they had polymorphism, but dang! I didn't think it was that extensive, lol. The group that ant was from was literally only half the size of the other group. I guess I'll keep an eye on that colony out of curiosity from here out.

 

Lasius alienus is probably the favorite host species of Lasius umbratus, but in my experience, I don't think this social parasite is very picky. The colony I am starting right now was set up with flavus-group workers.

 

Your worker sample from the first set of photographs is a Lasius species, probably L. neoniger or L. pallitarsis. These should work out fine.

 

Oh, sweet! Thanks for the ID, you're a lifesaver! Glad I managed to track down at least something in the right family. Probably L. neoniger since it looks like L. pallitarsis is a mostly western species. Either way, I'll go collect up some workers for her first thing in the morning then. Man, this would have been so much easier if I hadn't dumped that flowerpot already, lol. Luckily they seemed content to rebuild where I put them, they were making new anthills and such, so they'll hopefully still be around tomorrow (I released the workers I'd collected in case they weren't the right ones). Glad I thought ahead and bought the things I'd need to get them all situated at least. They'll have to nest in the tube for now, but they'll have a small outworld at least.

 

Fingers crossed this works out!

Edited by Hikari, June 6 2017 - 9:06 PM.

[Ants4fun]

I don't think it's C. pennsylvanicus. The head doesn't look right. Also, pennsylvanicus looks a lot more lanky and I believe their thorox is a bit smaller in relation to their head.

[Ants4fun]

C. nearcticus?

[Hikari]

Hmmm...maybe? Either way, the main mystery of the Lasius queen is solved, so I'm marking this thread as such. I'll worry about the mystery of the Camponotus another day. At the very least, it does amuse me how close two different species can live without bothering to kill each other. Granted, Camponotus do seem to be pretty chill in general. I love them.