16 replies to this topic

[AntsMAN]

1. Nova Scotia, Canada
2. August 28 2016
3. Town area
4. 10-11mm
5. Smooth, bright orange.
6. Bright orange
7. Extremely fast
 

Going to look for some Lasius sp. brood for her today.

 

Edited by AntsMAN, August 30 2016 - 2:12 PM.

[Batspiderfish]

Nice find! These queens are so pretty! I have had limited success raising these queens on my own Lasius umbratus workers, but their best host species is Lasius pallitarsis. Give the queen a speck of honey and go look in woodland habitats (where you found the queen is easiest) for niger-group workers that look as bright as Lasius neoniger. If you look closely at their mandibles, this species will have one or more teeth that have moved away from the others and up the mandible. If it looks like the Lasius worker has only 6 teeth, it is probably Lasius pallitarsis. Lasius neoniger, a close look-alike, has all seven teeth on the mandible and they will be uneven in length. Lasius alienus, which shares the same habitat, has no standing hairs on the antennal scapes. Lasius alienus might do fine as a host species, as it is the primary host for just about every other parasitic Lasius in North America.

Edited by Batspiderfish, August 28 2016 - 6:27 AM.

[Batspiderfish]

I would love a shot of her gaster just to make doubly sure she is not from the Acanthomyops subgenus.

[AntsMAN]

Nice find! These queens are so pretty! I have had limited success raising these queens on my own Lasius umbratus workers, but their best host species is Lasius pallitarsis. Give the queen a speck of honey and go look in woodland habitats (where you found the queen is easiest) for niger-group workers that look as bright as Lasius neoniger. If you look closely at their mandibles, this species will have one or more teeth that have moved away from the others and up the mandible. If it looks like the Lasius worker has only 6 teeth, it is probably Lasius pallitarsis. Lasius neoniger, a close look-alike, has all seven teeth on the mandible and they will be uneven in length. Lasius alienus, which shares the same habitat, has no standing hairs on the antennal scapes. Lasius alienus might do fine as a host species, as it is the primary host for just about every other parasitic Lasius in North America.

 

 

I added 1 freshly eclosed worker and a mature worker from my Lasius alineus colony. I went looking but could find any Lasius nests close enough to thee surface to get brood. Once she has accepted the alienus workers I'm going to add the rest of the small colony, i'll  leave a few workers for the alienus queen.

Edited by AntsMAN, August 28 2016 - 3:22 PM.

[Batspiderfish]

The callow does not necessarily have a colony scent, so it is not clear what other adult workers will do after they are introduced. What you can do is keep adding callow workers and boost them with small amounts of larvae and pupae as you go. If you want to introduce workers from inside of a nest, you should let the queen and callow move in on their own fruition. Usually Lasius subumbratus will let itself be grabbed and try to win over the workers while being pinned. Unless the queen is panicking and running around with workers biting her, she is probably just doing her thing. Make sure she and her callow have a tiny bit of food.

Edited by Batspiderfish, August 28 2016 - 4:19 PM.

[AntsMAN]

I gave her a piece of meal worm, and a drop of honey. I'm going to add some more workers tomorrow and see how things go. The one worker doesn't seem to be attacking.

[AntsMAN]

I would love a shot of her gaster just to make doubly sure she is not from the Acanthomyops subgenus.

 

 

[AntsMAN]

I was thinking of putting her in with the rest of the Lasius alienus colony to see what happens. The colony has 10 or so workers and a good pile of brood, they are in a test tube in a glass dish, I was trying to get them to move to a new test tube. I was going to put the subumbratus queen in the dish and see if her and the two workers are accepted into the colony. I want to see if she will kill the other queen and steal her colony.

[Batspiderfish]

Definitely Lasius subumbratus.

 

I don't have any experience introducing these to colonies that have queens -- it might end badly.

[AntsMAN]

Definitely Lasius subumbratus.

 

I don't have any experience introducing these to colonies that have queens -- it might end badly.

 

Okay, I'll hold off on that idea. I'll just add a few more callow workers.

[AntsMAN]

The worker died and the callow is gone, I'm thinking she ate it. I can't find any wild Lasius sp. colonies with cocoons or callow's.

My only option is to take one of my Lasius alienus colonies and remove the queen and a few workers and give the rest to the subumbratus queen. I hate to take from the alienus queen, but I am more interested in the subumbratus, and alienus are more common.

What would be the best way to go about this?

[Batspiderfish]

You could also attempt to hibernate her in the fridge while you figure things out. While I've always seen Lasius subumbratus trying to infiltrate a colony right away, most fall-flying social parasites overwinter before stting out for a host colony. Just make sure to add something like wood flakes or coconut fiber to absorb  condensation.

 

Removing the queen from your colony is probably unfeasable, and would not bet good for her future if she is young.

Edited by Batspiderfish, September 7 2016 - 6:57 AM.

[AntsMAN]

You could also attempt to hibernate her in the fridge while you figure things out. While I've always seen Lasius subumbratus trying to infiltrate a colony right away, most fall-flying social parasites overwinter before stting out for a host colony. Just make sure to add something like wood flakes or coconut fiber to absorb  condensation.

 

Removing the queen from your colony is probably unfeasable, and would not bet good for her future if she is young.

 

Okay, thanks Bat. I'll put her in the fridge asap.

[AntsMAN]

Found her tangled in the cotton dead.

[Batspiderfish]

Sorry to hear about that. The survival of social parasites is difficult without host workers.

[AntsMAN]

I have a few Lasius neoniger queens set aside to be donors for my parasitic sp. next year. Assuming they are fertile.

I want to have everything ready the next time I catch one.

[Batspiderfish]

I want to design a formicarium over the winter that allows one to harvest workers and brood from a mature host colony while causing minimal disturbance. Maybe I can use one  of those modular cube designs, but give  it some way to easily detach from the others without causing a huge breach. Maybe I could seal it with doors? Or just cotton.

Edited by Batspiderfish, September 14 2016 - 5:17 AM.