I had been on a veterinary conference in Hannover, Germany, in the past few days.
Yesterday was a massive nuptial flight of different ant species.
The roads and walkways were covered, mainly in Lasius niger queens (by the thousands).
But then I saw a much smaller queen crossing my path when I took a walk outside.
I could not believe my luck!
It was a queen of Leptothorax acervorum!
I have been wanting this species for a while.
They are easy to keep and form very small colonies.
They are in fact the ants that exist into the Arctic Circle and have the northernmost populations of any ant.
Hence the "Arctic Ladies".
They are also host to three absolutely amazing social parasites, three other Leptothorax species, which do not even produce any workers anymore. These parasites have these dorso-ventrally flattened queens which attach themselves to the host abdomen like some especially annoying ticks.
I have an empty mini-hearth for these girls when they grow.
Right now, the queen (which performs claustral founding) is safe and sound in a test tube and I hope I will have a colony develop.
I have not seen many journals and reports on here of Leptothorax.
Maybe they are not the most interesting ants?
However, if you have some experience with them, feel free to share.
Edited by Ernteameise, July 12 2024 - 1:18 PM.