5 replies to this topic

[Mr.Fish]

Location of collection: on the side of a small gravel road at around 800 amsl, in the city of Frabosa Soprana, province of Cuneo, Italy
Date of collection: 10/08/2023 at 11:50 am GMT+1
Habitat of collection: some gravel near the woods (idk which type of trees sorry)
Length: 8mm
Coloration, hue, pattern and texture: brown/dark-ish triangled head and mesosoma, hairy gaster with four segments.
Distinguishing characteristics: still winged, it seems like she has one petiole node (couldn't see well because of wings), yellow accents at the end of every gaster segment, brown-black legs with orange accent at the end of the legs (I snapped some pics with flash on so it's probably because of that), thorax muscle bumbs don't seem that prominent compared to the average queen, triangular head with a small depression in the middle (not 100% sure about this one), average-ish eyes? spoon-like and not very sharp mandibles and I couldn't snap a single picture where her antennas are still and segments distinguishable.
Anything else distinctive: was very active when I caught her: trying to run from me skipping a bit forward with her wings, then became almost dead like during the following hours (not standing upright and moving her antennas slowly, and then, after I housed her in a small test tube setup and, not knowing if she's fully-claustral or not I also gave her a bit of honey soaked cotton (besides the mandatory water) she became again active (not as strongly as before), now she seems to be calm.
Nest description: not found
Nuptial flight time and date: not witnessed













I hope she was fertilised even tho she didn't take her wings off (this can happen right?), I also know the pictures are the opposite of clear but when I took them I was either outside or she was running around and extremely active (also pics were snapped with a phone). If you want I can surely snap more of them.

Edited by Mr.Fish, August 11 2023 - 2:21 PM.

[Virginian_ants]

Lasius niger. There is a chance she's mated but it's almost impossible to tell. Great pics.

[Mr.Fish]

Good, thank you. I guess I’ll have to wait until she starts laying eggs then.
Also, given the fact that L. Niger queens are fully-claustral, should I remove the honey soaked cotton bit and leave her be with only water until she lays eggs?

[Virginian_ants]

I think you should remove it because of mold but even fully claustral queens will not mind a little bit of sugar it can stress them though. She is hopefully matted and starts a colony.

[Mettcollsuss]

Lasius niger group, likely L. niger but it's impossible to confirm the species from these photos.

[Mr.Fish]

Alright, thank you very much, what kind of photos should I take to make her more identifiable?
Also how long does it generally take for a Lasius queen to lay eggs? (That way I’ll roughly know if she is mated or not)

Edited by Mr.Fish, August 12 2023 - 12:01 PM.