46 replies to this topic

[Jeoff82]

Yes we have a few interesting ants here. Never seen Lasius fulinginosus either, I think they are even rarer than umbractus here. Am I right in thinker fulinginosus are a hyper parasite. We have around 50 species, most being in the south of the country. Do you keep any Lasius sp?

[Batspiderfish]

I've kept Lasius umbratus in the past, and am starting again with one, possibly two colonies (one queen only has two host workers.) I also have a young colony of Lasius cf. alienus with about 50 workers. I'm going to try with Lasius latipes later this summer, or Lasius interjectus if I can find them. Hyperparasites don't necessarily need a host colony of another social parasite -- Even though Lasius fuliginosus is a famous parasite of Lasius umbratus, I think colonies have been founded just as easily with Lasius niger or Lasius flavus.

[AntsMAN]

While feeding my colonies today I noticed that Lasius neoniger workers are now feeding the Lasius umbratus queen Success!! And they are almost ready to eclose the new workers.

[AntsMAN]

I lost another Queen today, but I had another to put in her place. One has layed her eggs seems to be doing well, the workers have accepted her. The other I'm still waiting to see, all seems well.

[Loops117]

This post has a lot of helpful info to my two parasitic Lasius queens. I added brood to both, and only one seemed to remotely accept brood. I put them in there with only a day or two till they hatch yesterday so we'll see what happens. I also saved 3 small workers in a separate test tube, should i try adding them in? They Lasius flavus workers and brood...

[AntsMAN]

Yes, I would add workers, because I don't think a parasitic queens will help them to eclose or feed them.

I put three small Lasius neoniger workers and 5-8 cocoons, the workers fought a little with the queen, and after a while they seemed to tolerate each other. Now they are feeding the queen and one has eggs! Looks good so far. The third queen was either killed by the workers or died naturally. I feed them some honey and small bits of mealworm in their test tube setup.  It took about a week 1/2 or so for her to lay eggs, and the workers to feed her.

[AntsMAN]

First worker has eclosed

[Batspiderfish]

Nice! You mean a Lasius neoniger pupa, right?

 

I think one of the small/medium sized larvae in my queen's tube is going to be the first L. umbratus worker of the colony.   
It looks like the flavus-group workers would rather eat their own pupae than go foraging outside, but things should be fine after my first parasite worker.

[AntsMAN]

Yes the first neoniger has eclosed and the queen has a pile of eggs, hope to get some good pictures today.

[Loops117]

Congrats! I too have had success.....or so i think....

I added 3 L.alienus workers and the queen seemed to immediately like them. She flicked her abdomen at one worker once and that was the end of it. No fridge, just added workers. Also, she ignored the L.alienus brood until the workers joined in and started to care for them.

 

Here's a video i took last night. After about a minute is when i started thinking things were going good.

 

my other queen died.... =(

[AntsMAN]

Well done looking good. Make sure to feed them, I just put a chuck of meal worm and a drop of honey on tin foil, to slide in the test tube.

[Loops117]

I placed a small piece of mealworm guts in the tube. All of my ants ignore the skin of the mealworm. I will add a sugar water or honey to the tube today. Thank you for helping me out.

[AntsMAN]

I am going to try to do a small write up about Lasius umbratus/parasitic queens, for future reference.

[Loops117]

i agree. I think we should start a collective or something.

[AntsMAN]

Sounds like a plan

[Jeoff82]

Nice video, looks like some sort of feeding and cleaning is taking place between the worker and queen. Seems like there are plenty of Umbractus in the states to find but here in the UK they are rarely seen. I hope to find myself a queen this year maybe this month when the Nigers/Flavus also fly.

[Batspiderfish]

Nice video, looks like some sort of feeding and cleaning is taking place between the worker and queen. Seems like there are plenty of Umbractus in the states to find but here in the UK they are rarely seen. I hope to find myself a queen this year maybe this month when the Nigers/Flavus also fly.

 

According to Bees Wasps & Ants Recording Society, UK Lasius umbratus fly in mid-August and September. North American Lasius umbratus have big flights at these times too, but we also see them scattered throughout the summer. http://www.bwars.com...lasius-umbratus

Edited by Batspiderfish, July 7 2016 - 1:43 PM.

[AntsMAN]

Been trying to shoot some video, here is one of my Lasius umbratus queens with Lasius neoniger workers tending her brood.

Not the best video but I'm working on it.

 

[Jeoff82]

Well they look pretty content, looks like your colony will be a success.

[AntsMAN]

Just moved them to a fresh test tube, they were starting to separate from each other due to excess space in the small nest. These guys are still a little unsure of their new queen after the move. One of the new worker has just eclosed hopefully she will help calm things down. I also see there is a fresh pile of eggs the workers are tending to.

 

Edited by AntsMAN, July 11 2016 - 4:03 AM.