234 replies to this topic

[Thunder_Birds]

Ok, nice How many did you catch?

[RushmoreAnts]

They were workers, not queens. I didn’t catch any.

[Thunder_Birds]

Oh ok:)

[RushmoreAnts]

I find it interesting that you can roughly judge a (Lasius) colony's strength by the number of mounds and nest entrances they have. Most had one or two, sometimes three, the larger ones had five or so, a couple even had close to ten.

[Ants_Dakota]

Or the size of the mounds.

[Ants4fun]

So weird. Was planting a tree in my yard and opened up a claustral cell of a L. Neoniger queen and nanifics. Unfortunately the shovel killed the queen, but was only 6 inches deep. Didn’t know they would have nanitics already, considering the temp has only recently gotten warm.

Edited by Ants4fun, April 23 2020 - 5:07 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

I’ve experienced that Lasius lay eggs before winter around here. I once caught an americanus queen in early September during the main neoniger flight. She raised a colony of thirty workers before winter.

[Ants4fun]

Lasius americanus fly earlier and are known to rear workers before winter. It’s thought that L. Neoniger wait until spring. How are your guys’ P imparis doing? Mine have a large clump of eggs. Ended up putting them all in one formicarium.

Edited by Ants4fun, April 23 2020 - 5:54 PM.

[RushmoreAnts]

Lasius americanus fly earlier and are known to rear workers before winter. It’s thought that L. Neoniger wait until spring. How are your guys’ P imparis doing? Mine have a large clump of eggs. Ended up putting them all in one formicarium.

My four (five if you count the one I found) haven't laid anything yet, but Ants_Dakota's queen laid one egg. I expect them all to have more eggs next week.

[Ants_Dakota]

I just got an aphaenogaster tennesseensis colony. I am not sure if it has a queen, but i will wait and see. They appear to like rotten wood. Is that right?

[RushmoreAnts]

On Sunday, Ants_Dakota and I went anting in a local wooded area (not a park, less disturbed than that) and brought back a few interesting species. 

 

We got a Lasius brevicornis colony, which I now have,

 

a few Myrmica colonies, which we divided among ourselves,

 

a small Formica colony with 7 queens and a dozen or so workers, which Ants_Dakota got,

 

a small Ponera pennsylvanica colony, which I now have,

 

and while sorting all this out at Ants_Dakota's house, we found a parasitic Lasius queen, which I now have. 

 

Ants_Dakota also went on another trip by himself, where he found an Aphaenogaster tennesseenis colony for himself, as previously mentioned,

 

and Prenolepis imparis workers, which we introduced to our queens.

[Ants4fun]

Nice finds! I almost collected a few of those Aephenogaster but didn’t find the queens. I wonder if I am misidentifying them as tenneseensis. For a parasitic aephenogaster, they seem very prolific, and Is seem to find them more than any other Aephenogaster. A couple of my queens died so I divided them up. I think adding Prenolepis workers is a good idea. Might have to try that.

[AntsExodus]

I wish a lot of Georgian ant keepers are active here. Only people who want to buy or sell something come but not for talking or making journals.  

[RushmoreAnts]

I wish a lot of Georgian ant keepers are active here. Only people who want to buy or sell something come but not for talking or making journals.

It was like that for me, too. I was alone. Then Ants4Fun became active again, and my friends, Ants_Dakota and Thunder_Birds joined, so I bet you'll grow a little community eventually. 

[Ants_Dakota]

My myrmica colony has 41 queens now! I did not evan want that many, but that is what i got!

[RushmoreAnts]

I'm fine with my 18. 

[Ants_Dakota]

I am looking for any aphaenogaster tennesseensis queens or rudis queens! I will pay cash or trade with a AntsDakota desktop grout nest(is that a good name, AntsDakota?)

Edited by Ants_Dakota, May 8 2020 - 9:25 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

Also, i believe that we will be getting a new member from South Dakota soon! They may not post that often, but they will be keeping ants!

[Ants_Dakota]

I have a hypoponera colony with 2 queens and 10-15 workers available, if anyone is interested.

[RushmoreAnts]

It's supposed to get into the 80s next week, and a couple days before it's supposed to rain. Maybe Camponotus will fly...............