8 replies to this topic

[Vityou]

So I found a queen sometime late last summer, I don't remember the date.  It was in central Colorado.  It's fairly small I can't really get an accurate measurement but my pictures should help with that.  It was on my driveway, I live in a semi-arid, sort of dry area with pine trees.

 

 

Edited by Vityou, November 26 2016 - 5:23 PM.

[Solenoqueen]

Looks like a Lasius niger.

 

Same queen on your profile pic

Edited by Solenoqueen, November 26 2016 - 5:27 PM.

[Vityou]

No, different queen, the one on my profile was much larger.

[Solenoqueen]

Oh

[Vityou]

I think that's right.  Lasius niger.

[Batspiderfish]

Not Lasius niger. Assuming these pictures were taken recently, the lack of brood helps to indicate Formica. The pictures are not clear enough for me to tell which species, although the shininess suggests Formica neogagates or Formica lasioides. Better lighting would probably help with image quality.

FYI, even a bad measurement with a cm ruler is going to be better than comparing to a quarter.

[Alabama Anter]

Not Lasius niger. Assuming these pictures were taken recently, the lack of brood helps to indicate Formica. The pictures are not clear enough for me to tell which species, although the shininess suggests Formica neogagates or Formica lasioides. Better lighting would probably help with image quality.

FYI, even a bad measurement with a cm ruler is going to be better than comparing to a quarter.

I agree. Note that Formica lay in periods

[Canadian anter]

I am going with Formica lasioides because Formica neogagates have brighter colour legs (although they don't show with a camera as well)and because formica neogagates seem to grow especially slowly during their first year. Also, his profile pic is a Camponotus queen, not a Lasius niger

[Batspiderfish]

Formica lasioides has standing hairs on the antennal scapes, whilst F. neogagates does not. I'd want a better picture of the ants before I'd separate these from the fusca group.