30 replies to this topic

[RushmoreAnts]

Feel free to share any experiences, observations, theories, etc. relating to Lasius! The purpose of this thread is to give some credit to these otherwise under appreciated ants.

[NickAnter]

They are darned near impossible to identify.  You have to examine hairs under a microscope. Okay, back to praising the genus, in the Eastern Sierras, they are pretty much the most prevalent ant, and make huge trails, even into trees to presumably tend aphids. They also seemed to be strictly diurnal, not at all active on the cooler nights. Mine also laid eggs extremly quickly right out of hibernation, but they are taking ages to develop.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

Was this made as some version of CampoCulture? I never thought I would have a positive impact like this on the forums making little ant species cultures! Thank you Adak, and I hope your LasiCulture helps enlighten those in need of enlightenment and has wonderful times as it fulfills it's purposes, best wishes to this thread .  

[ANTdrew]

I would have liked to join in on this thread, but it seems like my Lasius neoniger queen is a dud.

[ponerinecat]

I never see lasius.

[RushmoreAnts]

They are darned near impossible to identify.  You have to examine hairs under a microscope. Okay, back to praising the genus, in the Eastern Sierras, they are pretty much the most prevalent ant, and make huge trails, even into trees to presumably tend aphids. They also seemed to be strictly diurnal, not at all active on the cooler nights. Mine also laid eggs extremly quickly right out of hibernation, but they are taking ages to develop.

Well, that’ll be one of the main topics in this thread!

Was this made as some version of CampoCulture? I never thought I would have a positive impact like this on the forums making little ant species cultures! Thank you Adak, and I hope your LasiCulture helps enlighten those in need of enlightenment and has wonderful times as it fulfills it's purposes, best wishes to this thread .

thanks for the support!

I would have liked to join in on this thread, but it seems like my Lasius neoniger queen is a dud.

If you ever catch and raise parasites, they’re just as welcome here.

I never see lasius.

Unfortunately.....

[AnthonyP163]

Some random things I've learned or heard.

 

My Parasitic Lasius exploration has mostly ended in failure to found, however since fall 2019 I learned more about getting them to found. I have a Lasius aphidicola queen with ~40-50 host workers right now and it looks like she could be successful. The biggest factor in introducing workers to a queen, in my case, has been that both parties need to be calm. If one side is aggressive, there is an issue. I can calm them down in a variety of ways, such as:

 

• Putting them in the fridge for a few minutes (although this doesn't always have an effect).
• Separating a worker from the rest of the colony for hours/days.
• Introducing both parties in a foreign space (sometimes it's okay to introduce the worker to the queens tube).

I have managed to get many queens to accept a few workers, however by the time I do, it is often too late in the season to get more hosts or I cannot find the same colony again. I suggest gathering a large amount of workers if you plan on introducing them to a queen (but not all of them at once, start with 1-3). Also, it is notable that some parasitic Lasius can be founded using parasitic workers (ideally of the same species), and some say this is much easier. I speculate that if you catch a queen and gather workers from the colony she recently left, they would get along. I haven't tried this but I plan to. I have done this with Tetramorium immigrans, 

 

I noticed that when I didn't bother to identify the host workers, they only worked for a select few parasitic queens and I remembered that they don't all parasitize the same species. I will make sure to put in maximum effort next fall to get a variety of parasitic queens to found.

 

I also notice that the taxonomy with Lasius neoniger and related queens is a little foggy, and as someone mentioned previously on this thread, you often need a microscope to identify your specimens.

[RushmoreAnts]

Good advice. I may just use it if I catch a queen this fall, when they fly.

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

I would have liked to join in on this thread, but it seems like my Lasius neoniger queen is a dud.

maybe she ate too many nerds and has a stomach-ache lol

[RushmoreAnts]

Or maybe she doesn't like the low calorie diet she's on. 

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

lol, she needed a sugar break

[RushmoreAnts]

Hmmm.... I wonder if she has any room for some meats as an entree? 

[Da_NewAntOnTheBlock]

maybe she wants some fillet lol... 

[Ants_Dakota]

You guys are so funny!

[Ants_Dakota]

They are darned near impossible to identify.  You have to examine hairs under a microscope. Okay, back to praising the genus, in the Eastern Sierras, they are pretty much the most prevalent ant, and make huge trails, even into trees to presumably tend aphids. They also seemed to be strictly diurnal, not at all active on the cooler nights. Mine also laid eggs extremly quickly right out of hibernation, but they are taking ages to develop.

Happens to me all the time. I have actually never got a colony to survive, or even get workers because they develop so slow.

[Ants_Dakota]

I never see lasius.

Lasius is so common up here that it is usually used mainly in experiments!!!

[Captain_Morgan]

My lasius niger done something quite fascinating the other night. I installed a heat mat under their nest and went out fishing for the night. I got home about 11 in the morning the next day to a bit of a disaster. The heat from the mat had caused a pool of water to appear in their water tube and what they done to combat theor nest getting flooded out amazed me. They built a dam! Like we mear humans would do to protect our 'nests.' I quickly changed over the tube and they pulled down the dam! They also used to coco husk I provided them to mop the condensation droplets from the clear acrylic roof they have! Watched them for hrs whilst they where at their work.

[RushmoreAnts]

This can be both a lesson on heat mat regulation AND ant ingenuity!

[NickAnter]

It seems that the Lasius from the sierras may well be polygynous. For people that have put non-polygynous Lasius together, about how many workers were there when the executions begun? My three queen colony has 17 or 18 workers, and so far, no aggression towards the queens.

[RushmoreAnts]

The queens of a two queened colony I had once slaughtered each other as soon as workers arrived, leaving the new colony orphaned.