26 replies to this topic

[Ants_Dakota]

Ants_Dakota's Lasius sp. Journal

Entry 1: Lasius neoniger

9/2/2024

Background

If you live in the United States, you have heard of Lasius. Antwiki notes that Lasius neoniger are native to every continuous state in the US, and yet these "cute" little ants are often underappreciated. Vox finds that yards in America are becoming "ecological deserts" and are decreasing biodiversity across the board, including from chemical and pesticide usage. Accordingly, as human presence in nature increases, Lasius becomes more challenged to find traditional forms of food. On top of this, the invasion of Tetramorium immigrans, and their ability to consume nearly anything humans produce, has turned a difficult fight into a near-impossible one for Lasius in urban settings. Yet these brave defenders fight on, undervalued by many on this forum. "Keeping ordinary ants in extraordinary ways" is a saying I have unapologetically stolen from ANTdrew's and that is why this journal was started. I was initially hesitant to start a journal of my own again, as my past attempts have been sloppy and inadequate when compared to my good friend RushmoreAnts as well as my picture quality, despite a new camera, being not up to my standard when glass was in between me and my target. However, I have kept ants for nearly a decade and kept nearly every species of Lasius native to South Dakota at one point or another, so I feel there may be something I can add to the conversation here on formiculture. Furthermore, I was surprised with the lack of detailed journals kept on this species in recent years, perhaps reflecting the decline I have noticed in alates flying per nuptial flight. THG's Lasius neoniger journal is one of the larger colonies currently being documented on formiculture of that species, and other notable and detailed reads are by Scherme in 2019, or drtrmillers byformica neoniger journal as well as Crystals journal, both from 2013-2014. Recent colonies kept by formiculture members are either bundled in complete ant journals(if this is yours and you own a colony of L. neoniger, leave a post on your experience!) which I don't have time to look through, or look something like this or this or this. Therefore, I have decided to take up journal writing again. I will attempt to update this journal with the different species I am keeping(4 currently!) as time goes on. Here goes nothing!

Lasius neoniger:

I currently own 7 colonies of L. neoniger, 6 from a flight on 8/20 of this year, and one from last year, which is currently my biggest colony.

My large colony:

This colony was one of a few queens i caught last year, and I decided to keep it as my personal colony. I did not have time or money to hibernate it last year, and because of life I did not put as high of care into these ants as I should of, and yet they still grew, a testament to their resilience as a species against Tetramorium immigrans. This year I have fed them a lot more, and they have grown immensely because of it. L. neoniger seem to grow similarly to other fast growing species such as Tetramorium immigrans and Solenopsis molesta in that the queen will output eggs as soon as protein is found, and proportional to how much is found. This differs distinctly from Formica, who are far more cautious with laying eggs, no matter how much you feed them at first. Currently, I estimate this colony has over 50 workers, and is housed in a Por Amor Array Formicarium with my own diy outworld.

 

9/2

Queen is hiding in the shadows

 

 

 

 

 

My small colonies:

These queens were collected in a flight on August 20th of this year. Sadly, while I once used to be able to collect well over 50 of these queens per flight from my driveway, I was only able to find 6 queens this year. Lasius queens in South Dakota are often found on ornamental prairie grasses that decorate yards and were once native(or their ancestors were before hybrid crosses) to the great prairies that covered this land centuries ago. Specifically, these were found on some type of feather reed grass. I have noticed that these queens prefer grass with thick bunches of vertical seed clusters as opposed to grasses with thinner, more spread out, or more drooping seed bunches. All 6 of these queens have little egg clumps, and 5 were found on one feather reed grass within seconds of each other. The final one was on the ground. These are housed in a standard test tube setup. Interestingly, in South Dakota L. neoniger queens will lay eggs before hibernation, whereas they will not in other parts of the country.

 

8/21

 

 

9/2

 

 

 

 

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 13 2024 - 7:48 AM.

[ANTdrew]

I love this species. Looking forward to a great journal.

[Ants_Dakota]

I love this species. Looking forward to a great journal.

And I am hoping I can provide you one! I am also a huge fan of L. neoniger as well, they are super fast and pretty aggressive against fruit flies in their 1v1 combat. I also love how the workers "juke" whenever exposed to light. I should get a gif of that.

[Ants_Dakota]

Ants_Dakota's Lasius sp. Journal

Entry 2: Lasius brevicornis

9/3/2024

Background

Size and color is something ant keepers have always valued when trying to collect "cool" species of ants. Que the rise of the Camponotus dominant anting industry we have at the moment. Why keep "boring" local ant species when you can purchase a Camponotus castaneus queen? I am going to try to convince you otherwise. Antwiki notes that L. brevicornis is a subterranean species that nests under rocks, often in moist forests. And it's not restricted to half of the United States like C. castaneus is. Only 9 of the 48 continental states are not home to L. brevicornis according to Antmaps(and that, I believe, is because of a lack of myrmecologists, not these ants). However, in my digging on L. brevicornis journals, I came up fairly empty-handed. I apologize in advance again if you have a bundled ant journal, I just can't read everything, so post how your L. brevicornis colonies are doing below! Journals from experienced anters such as AnthonyP163 and NickAnter ended soon after the first nanitics. Even a not-read-worthy journal from a younger me ended soon after nanitics due to neglect(treat your ants like you would any other pet reader!). Probably the most detailed journal by Mettcollsuss ended as they sold the colony to an unknown buyer, a shame because of the depth of this journal. As of now, we wait for AntBoi3030 to update their journal. Among the few journals, even fewer recent ones surfaced on formiculture, a shame to a species with such brilliant colors. Let's end this, shall we? On 8/20 of this year, I got my hands on 15 more queens of L. brevicornis from a colony near my house. One observation I have made about this species is that the queens rarely fly far. The vast majority can be found wandering on the ground within 20 feet of the nest. Therefore, it is critical to identify a colony if you want to reliably catch queen ants in their flights. This may be why so few journals on this species are created; L. brevicornis are subterranean and rarely leave their nest. Beyond that, raising a queen to workers is a very long process. Without heat, it can take close to 3 months, or over. However, I think all of this is overshadowed by the beauty of these ants, one which my amateur skill with a camera cannot adequately capture. Raising large ants is fun, but there is so much you are missing if you buy into the large ant and large chamber formicarium design that is the current trend. The military-like cooperation when ants drag food to the nest, the not military-like cooperation when ants pull opposite ways on a fruit fly, the "juke" reaction to light, and the little tiny baby eyes are all so fun and unique to observe from the other side of the glass. If you are someone looking to purchase ants, try local first. They may not be the most colorful or largest ants you can get, but they will be your favorite because you spent time feeding them, you cleaned their outworld, you bought them new nests and supplies, you observed them, and and you cared for them. Now, onto the colonies:

Lasius brevicornis

I currently own 5 3-queen colonies of L. brevicornis, all without brood. Unlike L. neoniger in my last post, L. brevicornis do not lay eggs before winter here in South Dakota.

 

Pictures a day after caught(8/21)

 

 

Pictures now(9/2)

 

 

I can't wait until the tiny pale nanitics appear!

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 4 2024 - 10:23 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

Ants_Dakota's Lasius sp. Journal
Entry 3: Lasius cf. americanus
9/5/2024
Background
If this journal opens your eyes to anything, it should be the lack of in-depth journals on common ants around the United States. I feel many ant-keepers have this desire to "move up the ranks" of ant-keeping and constantly keep more difficult, rare, and colorful species as they progress through the hobby, but never stop to appreciate, document, or even keep the more common species around that should form the basis of any ant-keeper's collection. Like Lasius neoniger, Antmaps finds that Lasius americanus is native to all 48 consecutive states plus Alaska(and Ohio Lasius americanus are apparently built differently). One of the possible reasons why Lasius americanus is kept and documented so rarely, as noted by Antwiki, is because L. americanus usually nest in woodlands because they have been pushed out of most other biomes by other species in the neoniger complex. Nevertheless, Antwiki continues that in these wooded regions, L. americanus is eminently successful, and thus we ant-keepers can find these queens and colonies if we look for them. In terms of journals on formiculture, I struggled to find an active and detailed one(that was not in a general journal). Probably the best Lasius journal out there that closely mirrors this one is by Mettcollsuss and contains glimpses of their L. americanus colony, but they died from unknown reasons. Other journals from notable formiculture names include AnthonyP136's journal, which ends after three posts, AntsBC's, which ends with a tragic circumstance, and finally Antsman, whose journal represents probably the most in-depth and documented L. neoniger colony on formiculture, but has not been updated since 2018.

Why cf?
Those of you with sharp eyes may have identified the "cf." located in between the genus and species in the heading. The abbreviation cf. comes from the Latin word conferre, which means “compare to” or “confer.” Ant-keepers use this when they are not quite certain which species an ant is, and so they "compare it to" the one they believe it is closest to without DNA or microscopic identification. A year ago, I would have confidently labeled this species as Lasius americanus, but now, I am unsure. The reason for this opaqueness is due to the existence of the "neoniger/niger complex," a collection of similar species that are all native to South Dakota. These include L. neoniger, L. americanus, L. pallitarsis, and L. crypticus. In terms of distinguishing species, Antwiki finds that "The key feature is that L. americanus lacks erect hairs on its scape and hind tibiae, and is more common in forested habitats. The other three species all have erect hairs on their scapes and hind tibiae, and are more common in open habitats." If you don't own a 500 dollar microscope or are not a myrmecologist, this is pretty hard to find. To make matters worse, AnthonyP136's journal documents a L. crypticus queen that looks strikingly close to a L. americanus queen(if the ID is right). Antwiki confirms that "It is often difficult to separate this species(L. crypticus) from Lasius americanus, unless a large series is available." I am uncertain whether my pictures are of high enough quality to prove an identification, but I will leave that to experienced IDers to decide. The reason I am settling with cf. americanus is it was found in the Black Hills, which are wooded.

The Colony
I caught this queen in the Black Hills on 8/1/2024. There is not much to say other than I put her in a standard test tube setup and that she currently has larvae. This makes the 2nd Lasius species I keep that has laid eggs before winter, a feature that differs across regions in the US. She currently has larvae.

(8/21)



(9/2)



(9/5)



Comparison of L. americanus(left) to L. neoniger(right)





Better photography with sunlight will hopefully be part of my next post!

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 11 2024 - 8:58 AM.

[GOCAMPONOTUS]

 

Ants_Dakota's Lasius sp. Journal

Entry 3: Lasius cf. americanus

9/5/2024

Background

If this journal opens your eyes to anything, it should be the lack of in-depth journals on common ants around the United States. I feel many ant-keepers have this desire to "move up the ranks" of ant-keeping and constantly keep more difficult, rare, and colorful species as they progress through the hobby, but never stop to appreciate, document, or even keep the more common species around that should form the basis of any ant-keeper's collection. Like Lasius neoniger, Antmaps finds that Lasius americanus is native to all 48 consecutive states plus Alaska(and Ohio Lasius americanus are apparently built differently). One of the possible reasons why Lasius americanus is kept and documented so rarely, as noted by Antwiki, is because L. americanus usually nest in woodlands because they have been pushed out of most other biomes by other species in the neoniger complex. Nevertheless, Antwiki continues that in these wooded regions, L. americanus is eminently successful, and thus we ant-keepers can find these queens and colonies if we look for them. In terms of journals on formiculture, I struggled to find an active and detailed one(that was not in a general journal). Probably the best Lasius journal out there that closely mirrors this one is by Mettcollsuss and contains glimpses of their L. americanus colony, but they died from unknown reasons. Other journals from notable formiculture names include AnthonyP136's journal, which ends after three posts, AntsBC's, which ends with a tragic circumstance, and finally Antsman, whose journal represents probably the most in-depth and documented L. neoniger colony on formiculture, but has not been updated since 2018.

 

Why cf?

Those of you with sharp eyes may have identified the "cf." located in between the genus and species in the heading. The abbreviation cf. comes from the Latin word conferre, which means “compare to” or “confer.” Ant-keepers use this when they are not quite certain which species an ant is, and so they "compare it to" the one they believe it is closest to without DNA or microscopic identification. A year ago, I would have confidently labeled this species as Lasius americanus, but now, I am unsure. The reason for this opaqueness is due to the existence of the "neoniger complex," a collection of similar species that are all native to South Dakota. These include L. neoniger, L. americanus, L. pallitarsis, and L. crypticus. In terms of distinguishing species, Antwiki finds that "The key feature is that L. americanus lacks erect hairs on its scape and hind tibiae, and is more common in forested habitats. The other three species all have erect hairs on their scapes and hind tibiae, and are more common in open habitats." If you don't own a 500 dollar microscope or are not a myrmecologist, this is pretty hard to find. To make matters worse, AnthonyP136's journal documents a L. crypticus queen that looks strikingly close to a L. americanus queen(if the ID is right). Antwiki confirms that "It is often difficult to separate this species(L. crypticus) from Lasius americanus, unless a large series is available." I am uncertain whether my pictures are of high enough quality to prove an identification, but I will leave that to experienced IDers to decide. The reason I am settling with cf. americanus is it was found in the Black Hills, which are wooded.

The Colony

I caught this queen in the Black Hills on 8/1/2024. There is not much to say other than I put her in a standard test tube setup and that she currently has larvae. This makes the 2nd Lasius species I keep that has laid eggs before winter, a feature that differs across regions in the US. She currently has larvae.

 

(8/21)

 

 

 

(9/2)

 

P9020234.JPG

 

(9/5)

 

P9050254.JPG

 

Comparison of L. americanus(left) to L. neoniger(right)

 

P9050258.JPG

 

P9050259.JPG

 

Better photography with sunlight will hopefully be part of my next post!

 

this is a very detailed entry. Thank you for taking a deep dive into these common species.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

Ants_Dakota's Lasius sp. Journal

Entry 3: Lasius cf. americanus

9/5/2024

Background

If this journal opens your eyes to anything, it should be the lack of in-depth journals on common ants around the United States. I feel many ant-keepers have this desire to "move up the ranks" of ant-keeping and constantly keep more difficult, rare, and colorful species as they progress through the hobby, but never stop to appreciate, document, or even keep the more common species around that should form the basis of any ant-keeper's collection. Like Lasius neoniger, Antmaps finds that Lasius americanus is native to all 48 consecutive states plus Alaska(and Ohio Lasius americanus are apparently built differently). One of the possible reasons why Lasius americanus is kept and documented so rarely, as noted by Antwiki, is because L. americanus usually nest in woodlands because they have been pushed out of most other biomes by other species in the neoniger complex. Nevertheless, Antwiki continues that in these wooded regions, L. americanus is eminently successful, and thus we ant-keepers can find these queens and colonies if we look for them. In terms of journals on formiculture, I struggled to find an active and detailed one(that was not in a general journal). Probably the best Lasius journal out there that closely mirrors this one is by Mettcollsuss and contains glimpses of their L. americanus colony, but they died from unknown reasons. Other journals from notable formiculture names include AnthonyP136's journal, which ends after three posts, AntsBC's, which ends with a tragic circumstance, and finally Antsman, whose journal represents probably the most in-depth and documented L. neoniger colony on formiculture, but has not been updated since 2018.

 

Why cf?

Those of you with sharp eyes may have identified the "cf." located in between the genus and species in the heading. The abbreviation cf. comes from the Latin word conferre, which means “compare to” or “confer.” Ant-keepers use this when they are not quite certain which species an ant is, and so they "compare it to" the one they believe it is closest to without DNA or microscopic identification. A year ago, I would have confidently labeled this species as Lasius americanus, but now, I am unsure. The reason for this opaqueness is due to the existence of the "neoniger complex," a collection of similar species that are all native to South Dakota. These include L. neoniger, L. americanus, L. pallitarsis, and L. crypticus. In terms of distinguishing species, Antwiki finds that "The key feature is that L. americanus lacks erect hairs on its scape and hind tibiae, and is more common in forested habitats. The other three species all have erect hairs on their scapes and hind tibiae, and are more common in open habitats." If you don't own a 500 dollar microscope or are not a myrmecologist, this is pretty hard to find. To make matters worse, AnthonyP136's journal documents a L. crypticus queen that looks strikingly close to a L. americanus queen(if the ID is right). Antwiki confirms that "It is often difficult to separate this species(L. crypticus) from Lasius americanus, unless a large series is available." I am uncertain whether my pictures are of high enough quality to prove an identification, but I will leave that to experienced IDers to decide. The reason I am settling with cf. americanus is it was found in the Black Hills, which are wooded.

The Colony

I caught this queen in the Black Hills on 8/1/2024. There is not much to say other than I put her in a standard test tube setup and that she currently has larvae. This makes the 2nd Lasius species I keep that has laid eggs before winter, a feature that differs across regions in the US. She currently has larvae.

this is a very detailed entry. Thank you for taking a deep dive into these common species.

 

Thank you! I hope you and many other readers have gained a little bit of knowledge about ants from this, as that is my main goal.

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 6 2024 - 4:33 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways!

[Ants_Dakota]

Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways!

My favorite quote!

[Ants_Dakota]

Ants_Dakota's Lasius sp. Journal

Entry 4: Lasius nearcticus

9/7/2024

Background

Lasius nearcticus is an ant that I have never kept in my life, so I was incredibly pleased to catch this queen on an anting trip with RushmoreAnts in Union Grove State Park on 9/1/24 during a black lighting session. When looking at the range of this species on AntMaps, the reason for this becomes clear, as L. nearcticus's range barely slips into the Great Plains, leaving South Dakota in a peninsula of sorts, surrounded by states with no native documentation. This is one of the most unique things about South Dakota, as the state straddles the dividing line of America, meaning we have both east and west coast species here. I was at first hesitant to label this as L. nearcticus, as this area is mostly dominated by L. brevicornis, whose flights are far larger. However, Union Grove is an incredibly unique biome, and there is a huge biodiversity and bio density of species of ants there. Furthermore, AntWiki clarifies that "These two species nest in distinct habitats – L. nearcticus in moist forests and L. brevicornis in open, dry habitats;" Union Grove being a moist forest for the most part. That being said, the sentence continues by stating "they can be distinguished reliably only by examining their maxillary palps at 25 – 50× magnification under a dissecting microscope." I do not have a dissecting microscope at the moment, so I based my ID on the size. This queen is several millimeters smaller than L. brevicornis queens and looks distinctly different. This, combined with the ID guide created by Wilson (1955) and cited in Antwiki, stating that the queen is: "Differing in size from the sympatric eastern North American population of brevicornis," is what led me to my conclusion. Interestingly, an image on Antwiki labeled as L. nearcticus looks nothing like my queen, and my only assumption is a photographer caught a parasitic queen in the act of infiltrating a colony and mislabeled it.

 

This species has, to my knowledge, never been raised to workers and documented on formiculture. A journal from Connectimyrmex ended with no pictures or updates, and there was little besides this to find (only 7 results under journals). This makes sense, as Antwiki includes in their introduction that "very little research has been done on this species." Accordingly, I hope that this journal entry, and those hopefully following it, can help future ant-keepers keep this species. Even if she proves to be infertile (which, based on her actions I do not believe to be the case), I hope this post can help people correctly identify their queens.

 

So more about my specific queen. I caught her around 8:30 pm during an approximately 2-hour gap where there was little wind. I should also note it was very humid. Queens also caught that night were Brachymyrmex depilis, L. brevicornis, and Myrmica sp. As a side note, Lasius species rarely come to blacklights. It is my experience that they are far more singularly focused on mating and then immediately landing on grasses or the ground. Furthermore, they fly at dusk, and not into the night. In total, only two Lasius species were caught (this one and a L. brevicornis). This queen shed her wings while in a vial within an hour after being caught and has acted mated since I put her into a test tube.

 

After she was caught(9/2)

 

 

 

Now(9/7) I have attempted to get high quality reference photos so that others can ID their queens in the future or my ID can be corrected

 

 

 

 

 

That wraps up the four species of Lasius I currently keep! I will update this journal semi-frequently, and I highly encourage you to post your observations and Lasius species journals below.

 

Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways!

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 7 2024 - 11:49 AM.

[ANTdrew]

Excellent documentation. I look forward to reading more about your experience with this little known species.

[Ants_Dakota]

Excellent documentation. I look forward to reading more about your experience with this little known species.

I am excited as well. I am assuming with such a late flight they will lay eggs in the spring (and it is pretty cold currently where I am), but my other Lasius surprised me so we will see.

[Ants_Dakota]

As an interesting side note, I was looking at the current ant suppliers around the US, and only one had any form of Lasius available. The few they had only had brood (freshly caught) or a singular colony that had workers. Lasius is truly getting rarer, and the once large flights are now far smaller and harder to catch. It is truly time to keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways!

[SlimMilk]

Hey! Made an account just to comment. I am glad to see I am not the only one pleasantly happy about keeping a Lasius species. I have a two queen Brevicornis colony I purchased from Stateside Ants in March earlier this year and am thoroughly enjoying their progress! I think one of the main problems with Brevicornis is that although they were genetically labeled to be different from Flavus, the majority of literature and journaling of the species lives under Flavus. I was able to track down the exact supplier on accident as well so I know they're from Wisconsin. Mine has grown from the handful of workers at the start to almost 40 now! Wondering how big the colony will get before I have to put them into diapause for the winter. Excited to see how yours develop! Hoping they survive the first winter diapause, always the roughest to get through.

Edited by SlimMilk, Yesterday, 3:31 AM.

[Ants_Dakota]

Hey! Made an account just to comment. I am glad to see I am not the only one pleasantly happy about keeping a Lasius species. I have a two queen Brevicornis colony I purchased from Stateside Ants in March earlier this year and am thoroughly enjoying their progress! I think one of the main problems with Brevicornis is that although they were genetically labeled to be different from Flavus, the majority of literature and journaling of the species lives under Flavus. I was able to track down the exact supplier on accident as well so I know they're from Wisconsin. Mine has grown from the handful of workers at the start to almost 40 now! Wondering how big the colony will get before I have to put them into diapause for the winter. Excited to see how yours develop! Hoping they survive the first winter diapause, always the roughest to get through.

Firstly, thank you so much for creating an account and connecting with me! It is always wonderful to see new users and especially knowledgeable ones like yourself. Before making my L. brevicornis post, I did do a skim through the L. flavus journals on this forum, but it was a lot quicker than my look at the L. brevicornis labeled journals, so I definitely missed some. Nice that is some great growth! Do you heat your ants at all, and what do you use for their outworld? Last time I kept L. brevicornis every queen survived, although I actually did not hibernate them as I was really busy and didn't have a fridge. This year I am planning on doing some careful testing to ensure the fridge I now have is a good temperature for them. I did see stateside ants was out of stock of L. brevicornis, but usually Anthony would have them back in right now after a flight, which is why I lamented a little in the post above about the lack of availability of these amazing ants in the current ant market. Beautiful picture by the way!
Ants_Dakota

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 8 2024 - 12:53 PM.

[SlimMilk]

Firstly, thank you so much for creating an account and connecting with me! It is always wonderful to see new users and especially knowledgeable ones like yourself. Before making my L. brevicornis post, I did do a skim through the L. flavus journals on this forum, but it was a lot quicker than my look at the L. brevicornis labeled journals, so I definitely missed some. Nice that is some great growth! Do you heat your ants at all, and what do you use for their outworld? Last time I kept L. brevicornis every queen survived, although I actually did not hibernate them as I was really busy and didn't have a fridge. This year I am planning on doing some careful testing to ensure the fridge I now have is a good temperature for them. I did see stateside ants was out of stock of L. brevicornis, but usually Anthony would have them back in right now after a flight, which is why I lamented a little in the post above about the lack of availability of these amazing ants in the current ant market. Beautiful picture by the way!

Ants_Dakota

They're sitting in a test tube portal from Esthetic Ants right now but they're getting to the point where feeding them is a little difficult as they're currently using the outworld to house the cocoons. I am debating on upgrading their outworld but we shall see if they approach a difficult size before they have to go into hibernation. 

[Ants_Dakota]

 

Firstly, thank you so much for creating an account and connecting with me! It is always wonderful to see new users and especially knowledgeable ones like yourself. Before making my L. brevicornis post, I did do a skim through the L. flavus journals on this forum, but it was a lot quicker than my look at the L. brevicornis labeled journals, so I definitely missed some. Nice that is some great growth! Do you heat your ants at all, and what do you use for their outworld? Last time I kept L. brevicornis every queen survived, although I actually did not hibernate them as I was really busy and didn't have a fridge. This year I am planning on doing some careful testing to ensure the fridge I now have is a good temperature for them. I did see stateside ants was out of stock of L. brevicornis, but usually Anthony would have them back in right now after a flight, which is why I lamented a little in the post above about the lack of availability of these amazing ants in the current ant market. Beautiful picture by the way!

Ants_Dakota

They're sitting in a test tube portal from Esthetic Ants right now but they're getting to the point where feeding them is a little difficult as they're currently using the outworld to house the cocoons. I am debating on upgrading their outworld but we shall see if they approach a difficult size before they have to go into hibernation. 

 

That is a good problems to have! I currently use a DIY outworld for my large L. neoniger colony and have yet to have ants escape or bunch around the top, which is great, although they definitely could in the future. What were you thinking of upgrading your outworld too? (also, your image is no longer working on your first post)

[AnthonyP163]

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!

[Ants_Dakota]

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

Edited by Ants_Dakota, September 11 2024 - 1:05 PM.

[AnthonyP163]

 

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!