Hi everyone, I'm gonna present you some french species I keep. All those queens were found by myself.
I'll start with my Lasius sp :
Lasius niger
The identification for black Lasius is really hard (it can depend on the number of hair for example...). But we'll admit it's a Lasius niger as it's the the most famous.
I found this queen on summer 2013. The population is pretty low because the reservoir flooded during the hibernation. But it is starting well the year. They are heated at 26 °C the day and 20 the night. They accept all kind of food, with a preference for sugary food.
Lasius emarginatus
It's a beautiful species which gaster can extend very largely when full. I found the queen at the same time as the Lasius niger. The colony has evolved slowly and there is now less than a hundred workers. I keep them in the same condtions as Lasius niger.
Lasius myops
Lasius myops and not flavus because Lasius flavus tend to lay eggs before hibernation and Lasius myops do it after. I found this queen last august. It has started to lay eggs only after winter. She now has now one puppae, larva and eggs. Can't wait to see the workers !
I found this beautiful parasitic ant on July 2014. I gave her Lasius fulignosus workers which she immediately adopted. She has also layed eggs on march but there's still no larvae... I have read somewhere that the development of the brood was very slow... Fine, I'll wait !
I have recently added one puppae of Lasius emarginatus which was open yesterday. You'll see in the picture, it's still transclucid and very small compared to the Lasius fuliginosus...
Lasius fuliginosus
The queen was also found last summer. It is also a parasitic species which only parasitize parasitic species (Lasius umbratus, L.mixtus, L.bicornis...). As I didn't find parasitic ants, I gave her some Lasius fuliginosus workers which she adopted. She has layed eggs on march also.
Edited by Nexus, May 3 2015 - 4:30 AM.