Loving this journal so far. I did happen to get a ton of Lasius this year, but since most tend to found after hibernation and have a pretty high founding mortality rate (especially brevicornis), I typically don't sell them until the end of founding or after getting nanitics.
I currently have a lot of Lasius that I should be journaling about, but I rarely find time. I'll keep coming back to this journal frequently to see updates!
I am so glad you are enjoying it, and I am glad you found a lot of Lasius! I have been pretty down about their numbers recently due to the devastation by Tetramorium immigrans around my house recently, so glad your local area is still up and going. Did you catch a main flight, or do blacklights work for you? The hibernation mortality rate is definitely something I will look out for. If things don't go as well this year, I may think about skipping diapause for them next time, as that resulted in no mortality last year when I raised about 5 three-queen colonies. What species are you keeping? I totally get you are busy, especially running the largest ant business in the nation. Keep up the good work, and I especially appreciate your guides! Even though I don't buy ants, I do frequently keep tabs on the species you are selling. Also, I referenced your journal where you found a L. crypticus queen, what tipped you off to that not being americanus? I am just interested because I would love to create a layperson's guide to Lasius with pictures and measurements, something everyone can do. For example, in my ID thread here of a possible L. pallitarsis queen, I almost instantly noticed the size of the queen was different than L. neoniger, but this is never talked about on Antwiki (I do get size variations but I am just trying to find common trends). Again, thank you for taking the time to read, it is pretty lengthy and I know you have many responsibilities!
Ants_Dakota
I caught multiple main flights this year! Blacklights don't work so well for Lasius here.
I'm not sure what the queens that I used to call crypticus actually are, but they key out to neoniger. They seem to be consistently different from neoniger (this year I found a whole nest of them and took specimens) but I am unsure how to discern them, aside from coloration. It could be argued that they were some weird variant. Your journal actually inspired me to update mine so I listed everything I currently keep there.
I'm not too sure about the queen you have - that could totally be pallitarsis. They are generally much bulkier, but it's tough to be able to confirm without seeing that offset basal tooth. Thanks for checking out the guides and your kind words in general!
Lucky! I just had a few smaller flights but it is ok, I don't need too many ants. That makes sense, I did notice the slightly yellowish hair on the abdomen, so that could be discernable with the naked eye. I am truly honored my journal can be inspiring to people, it is probably just as inspiring to myself to continue keeping ordinary ants in extraordinary ways!
Sadly, I am unsure how good of an angle I can get with the glass for that offset basal tooth, but I will definitely keep trying, and maybe sunlight will help.
Answered
