13 replies to this topic

[bibiwood]

Hi,
 
Can you help me id my queens ?
I collected them on 29/06, in a city 15km south of Paris, France.
I strongly think they come from colonies living in the cracks in the pavement.
The only distinctive thing I can see is that the thorax and abdomen is pretty shiny.
 
Thanks,
 

 

Edited by bibiwood, July 6 2015 - 1:42 PM.

[LC3]

My guesses are Lasius and Formica. Are you sure you can't add more, like size/length, habitat, behaviour etc?

[Ants4fun]

That looks like a Formica queen. Was she surrounded by workers? Do to her gaster size It looks like she is from an established colony,..

[Trailandstreet]

It's a Lasius cf flavus queeen, if I saw it right. I can't open the big pictures, because the site is blocked

[James C. Trager]

Nice pictures.
I agree, she a Lasius, but I'm leaning more toward the European version of L. alienus or L. brunneus.

[bibiwood]

My guesses are Lasius and Formica. Are you sure you can't add more, like size/length, habitat, behaviour etc?

 

 

That looks like a Formica queen. Was she surrounded by workers? Do to her gaster size It looks like she is from an established colony,..

 

Sorry if my post was not clear enough.

One evening coming home, I noticed a lot of queen flying and crawling on the pavement, some still with their wings.

I went home to take my test tubes and collected three queens on the pavement, so their are not from established colony, but two of them started lying eggs.

For the habitat, I strongly think they come from the numerous colony I can observe living in the cracks in the pavement.

 

 

It's a Lasius cf flavus queeen, if I saw it right. I can't open the big pictures, because the site is blocked

 

Does other people have problems accessing the pictures ?

I uploaded the pictures there too: http://imgur.com/a/IvbeF#0

You can see them full size by clicking on the top right corner of the picture. 

 

 

Nice pictures.
I agree, she a Lasius, but I'm leaning more toward the European version of L. alienus or L. brunneus.

 

Thanks.

I took a look at ants wiki and L. alienus seems more likely for the habitat: "open dry situations, nesting under stones and occasionally constructing crater entrances in open soil". That match pretty closely with hot and dry crack in the pavement, and the colonies I saw make small crater entrances.

I don't think they live in trees.

 

They started laying eggs, how long do you think I have before the first workers and I need to transfer them to a bigger nest ?

[Ants4fun]

It should take about two months for Lasius.

[Jonathan21700]

Lasius brunneus nest in trees and have a reddish thorax. I found queens which I think are L. brunneus and they are smaller than other Lasius queens and also have a longer gaster.

Here's a picture of a queen and worker. http://www.antwiki.o...us_brunneus.jpg

[Trailandstreet]

Thanks for the new upload. I think it's the antivirus in our office, that blocks the site.

 

I have something to correct now. It is  definetly not a Lasius flavus and I don't even think, it's a Lasius niger. I have never seen a dealate Lasius, which is so physogastric. She is also more shiny black than Lasius niger.

L alienus could be right.

[bibiwood]

I finaly managed to do some better pictures of the queen:

 

 

 

 

More details on the workers:

 

 

 

You can click on the pictures to display them in full size (warning it's big files).

 

edit: and the imgur album if there is any problem http://imgur.com/a/AWJkl

Edited by bibiwood, November 11 2015 - 12:34 PM.

[bibiwood]

I made some better pictures, from a flight from last year, I believe it's the same species.

It's a pretty small species, they are housed in 16mm tube, the queen seems to be around 8mm and the worker less than 3mm.

 

 

[Alabama Anter]

Lasius niger

[bibiwood]

Thanks

The previous suggestion was Lasius Alienus, do you know of any way to separate Lasius Alienus and Lasius Niger ?
They seem to be pretty close, with maybe the hairiness varying.

[Batspiderfish]

Thanks

The previous suggestion was Lasius Alienus, do you know of any way to separate Lasius Alienus and Lasius Niger ?
They seem to be pretty close, with maybe the hairiness varying.

 

Lasius niger has erect hairs on the antennal scapes, whereas Lasius alienus and L. brunneus do not. I can't see the scapes too well.

Edited by Batspiderfish, April 10 2017 - 6:58 AM.