23 replies to this topic

[VoidElecent]

Dear Formiculture,

 

As some of you may already know, my name is VoidElecent and my twin brother is Bracchymyrmex. I was introduced to this forum not so long ago by him, and the few days I've been here have been great! You all are very helpful, and I've already gotten 29 replies to a thread I posted just two or three days ago!

 

Since we're pretty new, I thought it would be appropriate to give you all a sense of who we are (or atleast me) and how we're doing ant-wise. I thought about posting this in the member introductions section, but I also want to discuss some problems and roadblocks we've encountered with some of our queens, so rather than specifically categorizing this thread as an Introduction or strictly as Ant-Keeping & Myrmecology, I've decided to plop it in general. Plus, I was under the impression more of you checked general than some of the other categories, so it works out fine. 

 

My brother and I live near Philadelphia, PA. We started to get really into ant-keeping later in the Summer and towards the beginning of Fall last year, so we just missed the majority of nuptial flights. Fortunately, we got pretty lucky and snatched up a couple queens just before the Fall weather started to kick in and it became really cold. Here's a list of the species' we have:

• (1x) Camponotus Pennsylvanicus
• (2x) Crematogaster Cerasi
• (1x) Lasius Neoniger
• (1x) Brachymyrmex Depilis
• (1x) Lasius Social Parasite

My brother caught the Camponotus Queen in Late June if I remember correctly (he was into ants far before I was), and she managed to develop a sizable brood and 10 workers just in time for hibernation. Hibernation is nearing an end, and she still has 6 workers, which I would consider a success. This young colony seems to be quite tolerant and very easy to handle— we've enjoyed working with them. We're not too sure what we want to do with it, but selling it may be one of our top options.

 

I stumbled upon the Crematogaster Queens on our school campus, I was actually unprepared, but eventually found a way to successfully and safely transport them in plastic test tubes from school to our house. These queens have for sure been through a lot, but they are my favorite. Despite their high susceptibility to stress, these queens are very healthy and very strong. They're small, shiny, black, and essentially unsquishable! What more could an ant keeper want? If all goes well, I plan on keeping a colony of Crematogaster Cerasi.

 

The Lasius Neoniger was found at a local park. About a day after their famous Labor-Day nuptial flights, I found the queen wandering around on a sidewalk. I quickly scooped her up and she is one of our happiest ants to date.

 

The Brachymyrmex Queen was a very lucky watch for us. In mid-October last year, there happened to be a last-minute nuptial flight on our driveway. We couldn't take the dog on a walk without being pelted in the face by alates. At this time, we were only really aware of the common species (Tetramorium, Camponotus, Crematogaster, Lasius etc.) and were definitely not expecting to see these ants. If we hadn't seen the males still attached, we wouldn't even have identified them as ants! They're just so tiny! This is my brother's absolute favorite species we own (hence his username) and I presume we'll be keeping her as well.

 

We also stumbled upon a Myrmica Sp. Queen on our driveway and kept her in a generic test-tube setup. Unfortunately, we hadn't done our research and were completely unaware of this species' semi-claustral nesting habits, so she sadly passed away during hibernation. We definitely learned our lesson...

 

The Lasius Parasite queen we own is a little different. We definitely had no trouble finding Lasius Claviger in Autumn last year, but this one caught our attention so we scooped her up. She's a little darker, legs look a bit skinnier, and hasn't died so far... So I guess that's good... We're not quite sure what to do with her but I have a couple ideas. although I think it would be best to try to ID her before I get into those. We had previously assumed she was Umbratus, but she seems to be much darker. I'm now under the impression she''s Lasius Speculiventris. Let me know what you all think (here are some photos):

 

 

 

Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy, there's only so much you can do with an iPhone camera.

 

My idea was to try and raise her. Since we have a Neoniger, we could try doing something with the Neoniger workers. I thought that if we moved some of the Neoniger workers or pupae into the Parasite's test-tube claustral chamber, they would start working for her and she would start to lay her own eggs. I'm really not too sure how to go about doing this, so any advice would be MUCH appreciated.

 

Thank you all for being so supportive and helpful so far! Hopefully we can ID this sucker and find out what to do with her.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nathant2131]

Color is not a reliable way to differentiate ant species. If your Parasitic Lasius queen's second gastric tergite (the second segment of the gaster) is shiny and has little to no hairs, she is L. speculiventris. If it is not very shiny and has about the same amount of hairs as the other gastral tergites, she is L.umbratus. You might want to use magnification to see this.

 

Also, there are a few Lasius species in which their queens look very similar to L. neoniger that include Lasius alienus and Lasius pallitarsis. Lasius pallitarsis has an offset tooth that has traveled up the mandible, making it appear at first that there are 6 in all. Lasius alienus do not have standing hairs on their antennal scapes. You will most likely need magnification to see this.

 

I actually started ant keeping right around the time you did. Good luck with your queens!

 

Here is some help with some of the terms I mentioned:

 

 

 

These are not Lasius queens, just pics of a random species I found on the internet and edited.

Edited by Nathant2131, February 1 2017 - 1:47 PM.

[VoidElecent]

Nathan,

 

Upon further inspection, I've identified a couple things about my parasite queen. The second section of her gaster is shiny indeed, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it hairy. If you think i should be able to identify and distinguish individual hairs in order to classify it as "hairy" then it's not hairy. Using magnification, the section you indicated looks shiny, but not hairy. at least not noticeably. Also, assuming she is speculiventris, how can I be sure she isn't Fuligninosus?

 

Also, as I was looking at her, she seemed very restless. This is kinda weird because she just came out of hibernation (if she isn't still in it, of course), and she seemed pretty lethargic then. She also bent down and bit the end of her gaster as I was inspecting her. Is she ready to lay eggs? What should I do?

 

The neoniger-esque queen was harder to identify. I looked at her more closely using magnification, and if my observation was accurate, she doesn't have any hairs on her antenna scapes. I think she's actually Alienus!

 

 

[Nathant2131]

Nathan,

 

Upon further inspection, I've identified a couple things about my parasite queen. The second section of her gaster is shiny indeed, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it hairy. If you think i should be able to identify and distinguish individual hairs in order to classify it as "hairy" then it's not hairy. Using magnification, the section you indicated looks shiny, but not hairy. at least not noticeably. Also, assuming she is speculiventris, how can I be sure she isn't Fuligninosus?

 

Also, as I was looking at her, she seemed very restless. This is kinda weird because she just came out of hibernation (if she isn't still in it, of course), and she seemed pretty lethargic then. She also bent down and bit the end of her gaster as I was inspecting her. Is she ready to lay eggs? What should I do?

 

The neoniger-esque queen was harder to identify. I looked at her more closely using magnification, and if my observation was accurate, she doesn't have any hairs on her antenna scapes. I think she's actually Alienus!

Lasius fuliginosus is nowhere to be seen in the USA. They are only in Europe and Asia. And what I mean by not that hairy is that they are not nearly as hairy as the other gastric tergites. With umbratus, the hair coverage of tergite #2 is relativly the same as the other tergites.

 

Check this out for starting a Social Parasite colony.

 

Do you mean no standing hairs on the scape for your supposed L. alienus?

[VoidElecent]

 

Nathan,

 

Upon further inspection, I've identified a couple things about my parasite queen. The second section of her gaster is shiny indeed, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it hairy. If you think i should be able to identify and distinguish individual hairs in order to classify it as "hairy" then it's not hairy. Using magnification, the section you indicated looks shiny, but not hairy. at least not noticeably. Also, assuming she is speculiventris, how can I be sure she isn't Fuligninosus?

 

Also, as I was looking at her, she seemed very restless. This is kinda weird because she just came out of hibernation (if she isn't still in it, of course), and she seemed pretty lethargic then. She also bent down and bit the end of her gaster as I was inspecting her. Is she ready to lay eggs? What should I do?

 

The neoniger-esque queen was harder to identify. I looked at her more closely using magnification, and if my observation was accurate, she doesn't have any hairs on her antenna scapes. I think she's actually Alienus!

Lasius fuliginosus is nowhere to be seen in the USA. They are only in Europe and Asia. And what I mean by not that hairy is that they are not nearly as hairy as the other gastric tergites. With umbratus, the hair coverage of tergite #2 is relativly the same as the other tergites.

 

Check this out for starting a Social Parasite colony.

 

Do you mean no standing hairs on the scape for your supposed L. alienus?

 

From what I can tell, there are no hairs at all. At least, no visible ones. The link to the parasite queen thread was perfect. Thank you.

[Nathant2131]

Nathan,
 
Upon further inspection, I've identified a couple things about my parasite queen. The second section of her gaster is shiny indeed, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it hairy. If you think i should be able to identify and distinguish individual hairs in order to classify it as "hairy" then it's not hairy. Using magnification, the section you indicated looks shiny, but not hairy. at least not noticeably. Also, assuming she is speculiventris, how can I be sure she isn't Fuligninosus?
 
Also, as I was looking at her, she seemed very restless. This is kinda weird because she just came out of hibernation (if she isn't still in it, of course), and she seemed pretty lethargic then. She also bent down and bit the end of her gaster as I was inspecting her. Is she ready to lay eggs? What should I do?
 
The neoniger-esque queen was harder to identify. I looked at her more closely using magnification, and if my observation was accurate, she doesn't have any hairs on her antenna scapes. I think she's actually Alienus!

Lasius fuliginosus is nowhere to be seen in the USA. They are only in Europe and Asia. And what I mean by not that hairy is that they are not nearly as hairy as the other gastric tergites. With umbratus, the hair coverage of tergite #2 is relativly the same as the other tergites.
 
Check this out for starting a Social Parasite colony.
 
Do you mean no standing hairs on the scape for your supposed L. alienus?

From what I can tell, there are no hairs at all. At least, no visible ones. The link to the parasite queen thread was perfect. Thank you.

No problem. Very happy to help.

[VoidElecent]

 

 

 

Nathan,
 
Upon further inspection, I've identified a couple things about my parasite queen. The second section of her gaster is shiny indeed, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it hairy. If you think i should be able to identify and distinguish individual hairs in order to classify it as "hairy" then it's not hairy. Using magnification, the section you indicated looks shiny, but not hairy. at least not noticeably. Also, assuming she is speculiventris, how can I be sure she isn't Fuligninosus?
 
Also, as I was looking at her, she seemed very restless. This is kinda weird because she just came out of hibernation (if she isn't still in it, of course), and she seemed pretty lethargic then. She also bent down and bit the end of her gaster as I was inspecting her. Is she ready to lay eggs? What should I do?
 
The neoniger-esque queen was harder to identify. I looked at her more closely using magnification, and if my observation was accurate, she doesn't have any hairs on her antenna scapes. I think she's actually Alienus!

Lasius fuliginosus is nowhere to be seen in the USA. They are only in Europe and Asia. And what I mean by not that hairy is that they are not nearly as hairy as the other gastric tergites. With umbratus, the hair coverage of tergite #2 is relativly the same as the other tergites.
 
Check this out for starting a Social Parasite colony.
 
Do you mean no standing hairs on the scape for your supposed L. alienus?

From what I can tell, there are no hairs at all. At least, no visible ones. The link to the parasite queen thread was perfect. Thank you.

No problem. Very happy to help.

 

Have you had any success using the "callow" method described in the article you linked?

[Nathant2131]

Nathan,
 Upon further inspection, I've identified a couple things about my parasite queen. The second section of her gaster is shiny indeed, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd call it hairy. If you think i should be able to identify and distinguish individual hairs in order to classify it as "hairy" then it's not hairy. Using magnification, the section you indicated looks shiny, but not hairy. at least not noticeably. Also, assuming she is speculiventris, how can I be sure she isn't Fuligninosus?
 Also, as I was looking at her, she seemed very restless. This is kinda weird because she just came out of hibernation (if she isn't still in it, of course), and she seemed pretty lethargic then. She also bent down and bit the end of her gaster as I was inspecting her. Is she ready to lay eggs? What should I do?
 The neoniger-esque queen was harder to identify. I looked at her more closely using magnification, and if my observation was accurate, she doesn't have any hairs on her antenna scapes. I think she's actually Alienus!

Lasius fuliginosus is nowhere to be seen in the USA. They are only in Europe and Asia. And what I mean by not that hairy is that they are not nearly as hairy as the other gastric tergites. With umbratus, the hair coverage of tergite #2 is relativly the same as the other tergites.
 
Check this out for starting a Social Parasite colony.
 
Do you mean no standing hairs on the scape for your supposed L. alienus?

From what I can tell, there are no hairs at all. At least, no visible ones. The link to the parasite queen thread was perfect. Thank you.

No problem. Very happy to help.

Have you had any success using the "callow" method described in the article you linked?

I like to call myself a beginner from personal experience. I have actually never raised up a colony of anything, and I'm expecting brood from my queens next spring as soon as their hibernation ends. I am planning to start a parasitic colony and I showcase that In the "Ant Keeping journals" subforum.

[VoidElecent]

I checked out your subforum post, it looks pretty much identical to what I hope to do with my queens. Here's what I'm planning on doing, I'm pretty sure it's the callow method but I may be wrong.

1. Let the Alienus Queen develop some brood and hatch some workers.
2. Transfer some baby workers to the Speculiventris' test tube.
3. Feed the Speculiventris a little
4. After some time, introduce some more of the Alienus' workers (and maybe a little brood) into the Speculiventris' test tube.
5. Feed the Speculiventris colony some more. Maybe honey or something.

Let me know if you think this will work. We can grow our parasite colonies together!

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius umbratus is your queen.

I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

[Nathant2131]

Lasius umbratus is your queen.
I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

Lasius umbratus is your queen.
I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

How were you able to tell that it was Lasius umbratus?

[VoidElecent]

 

Lasius umbratus is your queen.
I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

Lasius umbratus is your queen.
I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

How were you able to tell that it was Lasius umbratus?

 

 

I agree with Nathan. Several sites and sources have clearly indicated the difference between Speculventris and Umbratus. However, I'd like to get something straight before we can properly ID them.

 

What exactly do you mean by "hairs" on a queen's gastral tergide?

 

For example, my queen's second gastral tergide is shiny indeed, almost reflective like that of a Neoniger or Alienus, however, even using magnification, it is almost impossible to make out even a single hair.

 

On some ants (like this claviger), hairs can definitely be seen, even with the naked eye. 

 

However, neither of the queens depicted on the "Umbratus" or "Speculiventris" AntWiki sites incorporate clearly defined, visible hairs like the Claviger does.

 

(umbratus)

 

(speculiventris)

 

Maybe I'll have to dig into AntWiki a little deeper to find other nuances in antennae structure or something. Regardless, the good news is that this parasite queen is definitely "Chthonolasius" Subgenus and will likely be slightly easier to keep.

 

For the Alienus, what are you referring to by saying "standing" hairs? If you couldn't tell, my myrmecology terminology could use some brushing-up. If would be so kind to differentiate what you mean when you refer to "hairs" or "standing hairs", that would be much appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[Nathant2131]

Lasius umbratus is your queen.
I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

Lasius umbratus is your queen.
I think that waiting for your captive Lasius alienus queen to produce enough brood and workers will not happen fast enough, and will put too much strain on the host colony. Using your own captive colonies is ideal, but you need one that is older and can be sustainably harvested.

How were you able to tell that it was Lasius umbratus?

 
I agree with Nathan. Several sites and sources have clearly indicated the difference between Speculventris and Umbratus. However, I'd like to get something straight before we can properly ID them.
 
What exactly do you mean by "hairs" on a queen's gastral tergide?
 
For example, my queen's second gastral tergide is shiny indeed, almost reflective like that of a Neoniger or Alienus, however, even using magnification, it is almost impossible to make out even a single hair.
 
On some ants (like this claviger), hairs can definitely be seen, even with the naked eye. 

 
However, neither of the queens depicted on the "Umbratus" or "Speculiventris" AntWiki sites incorporate clearly defined, visible hairs like the Claviger does.
 

(umbratus)
 

(speculiventris)
 
Maybe I'll have to dig into AntWiki a little deeper to find other nuances in antennae structure or something. Regardless, the good news is that this parasite queen is definitely "Chthonolasius" Subgenus and will likely be slightly easier to keep.
 
For the Alienus, what are you referring to by saying "standing" hairs? If you couldn't tell, my myrmecology terminology could use some brushing-up. If would be so kind to differentiate what you mean when you refer to "hairs" or "standing hairs", that would be much appreciated.
 
Thank you.

The first picture is actually L. speculiventris and the other is umbratus. On the first pic if you look closely, there are no visible hairs on the second gastric tergite when you compare them to the other tergites. The lacking of hairs is actually what causes the shininess in the first place.

A standing hair is also known as an erect hair. They are hairs that are long and stand straight up. I don't think you really call normal hairs anything, just "hairs". If you can see no hairs on anything, you either need light or better magnification. Maybe both. What do you use anyways?

[VoidElecent]

You're right. I mixed up the pictures somehow.

 

The magnifying glass I'n using isn't ideal. it's one of those that you wear on a rope and hold close to your eye, one of the ones that jewelers use. It's old, cheap and a little dirty so it's not great, but it's sufficient.

 

I think all I needed was some light. For the parasite queen, I could definitely identify a shiny, smooth and hair-less texture on her second tergide, so I'm sticking with my conclusion that she's speculiventris. Is there any benefit of keeping Speculiventris over Umbratus or Vise Versa?

 

The "neoniger-esque" queen was once again tougher to identify. I looked at her antennae scapes closely with my magnifying glass near a window with bright light. They still look relatively hairless. If there's any hair on them at all (which there is, it's just hard to see), it's definitely not standing.

 

One problem may have to do with the test tubes. I was too scared to take her out of her makeshift claustral chamber when I conducted my observation, so the glass of her test tube (which is very clean; it was just replaced) may be the root o some obstruction in my line of vision. 

 

Regardless, The Lasius Parasite (which I'm very confident is a Speculiventris), is part of the Chthonolasius subgenus, and the other is definitely a normal Lasius queen, wether it be Neoniger, Flavus or Alienus. So in theory, the callow method should work. Now i just have to figure out if transferring some of the Alienus' new workers & brood to the Speculiventris' test tube is safe or not...

[Nathant2131]

There has probably not been enough Parasite Colonies established in the world of ant keeping to determine which of those species is harder to keep.

Your supposed alienus colony may take quite a while to get going to sustain losses of multiple workers without there being a substantial population dent or queen stress. Once they are starting to grow fast, it should be fine.

You would want a really good macro camera or a microscope to get a positive Id on these queens. A good microscope for this situation may cost 100-200$. I'll send you some links later to some microscopes I am looking at to buy.

Once the supposed alienus queen's workers come, they will be dark gray if they are alienus. If flavus or nearcticus, very bright yellow. If Neoniger or Pallitarsis, they will be a brownish yellow.

[VoidElecent]

There has probably not been enough Parasite Colonies established in the world of ant keeping to determine which of those species is harder to keep.

Your supposed alienus colony may take quite a while to get going to sustain losses of multiple workers without there being a substantial population dent or queen stress. Once they are starting to grow fast, it should be fine.

You would want a really good macro camera or a microscope to get a positive Id on these queens. A good microscope for this situation may cost 100-200$. I'll send you some links later to some microscopes I am looking at to buy.

Once the supposed alienus queen's workers come, they will be dark gray if they are alienus. If flavus or nearcticus, very bright yellow. If Neoniger or Pallitarsis, they will be a brownish yellow.

 

Perfect. Thanks so much Nathan. I think rather than risking it, I'll head outside and look for some older lasius colonies I can borrow some brood from. I'll start my looking under dead wood and stones, what do you recommend? Do you think I'll even find anything so early in the year in PA?

[Nathant2131]

 

There has probably not been enough Parasite Colonies established in the world of ant keeping to determine which of those species is harder to keep.

Your supposed alienus colony may take quite a while to get going to sustain losses of multiple workers without there being a substantial population dent or queen stress. Once they are starting to grow fast, it should be fine.

You would want a really good macro camera or a microscope to get a positive Id on these queens. A good microscope for this situation may cost 100-200$. I'll send you some links later to some microscopes I am looking at to buy.

Once the supposed alienus queen's workers come, they will be dark gray if they are alienus. If flavus or nearcticus, very bright yellow. If Neoniger or Pallitarsis, they will be a brownish yellow.

 

Perfect. Thanks so much Nathan. I think rather than risking it, I'll head outside and look for some older lasius colonies I can borrow some brood from. I'll start my looking under dead wood and stones, what do you recommend? Do you think I'll even find anything so early in the year in PA?

 

 I wouldn't even bother looking. I myself have trouble even looking for P. imparis in winter. Sometimes though, I find Acanthomyops and Cthonolasius queens under rocks in 40 degree weather, especially if the substrate underneath it is dirt and it is damp. They seem pretty resistant to the cold. Also, if you start digging up a Lasius hill, get prepared to dig deep. I find that they store their brood pretty deep in the nest, most noticeably L. neoniger. I don't have much experience with other Lasius. Lasius neoniger prefer open, sandy habitats. They seem to make mounds quite a lot in sand. They like sand so much that if they nest in dirt, the mound is still often made of sandy substrate! Lasius alienus and Lasius pallitarsis prefer forests. I am not sure about the subgenus Cautolasius (flavus and Nearcticus) (BTW, the species alienus, neoniger, and pallitarsis are in the subgenus Lasius, and other species that are very uncommon or not present in your area like the taxonomically destroyed Lasius niger. It gets confusing becuase the subgenus name is the name of the Genus itself!  )

 

Microscopes I'm looking at: http://www.amscope.c...gen-lights.html

 

http://www.microscop...pe-package.html

 

I actually discussed what microscope was ideal on a post I made.

 

I am a beginner with magnification stuff and photography, but AMscope seems to have a very wide variety of options.

 

I hope you are successful with your queens! We live relatively close too (I'm in Massachusetts) and we have similar ants in our area. We are both beginners so we will learn together! Lol 

[VoidElecent]

 

 

There has probably not been enough Parasite Colonies established in the world of ant keeping to determine which of those species is harder to keep.

Your supposed alienus colony may take quite a while to get going to sustain losses of multiple workers without there being a substantial population dent or queen stress. Once they are starting to grow fast, it should be fine.

You would want a really good macro camera or a microscope to get a positive Id on these queens. A good microscope for this situation may cost 100-200$. I'll send you some links later to some microscopes I am looking at to buy.

Once the supposed alienus queen's workers come, they will be dark gray if they are alienus. If flavus or nearcticus, very bright yellow. If Neoniger or Pallitarsis, they will be a brownish yellow.

 

Perfect. Thanks so much Nathan. I think rather than risking it, I'll head outside and look for some older lasius colonies I can borrow some brood from. I'll start my looking under dead wood and stones, what do you recommend? Do you think I'll even find anything so early in the year in PA?

 

 I wouldn't even bother looking. I myself have trouble even looking for P. imparis in winter. Sometimes though, I find Acanthomyops and Cthonolasius queens under rocks in 40 degree weather, especially if the substrate underneath it is dirt and it is damp. They seem pretty resistant to the cold. Also, if you start digging up a Lasius hill, get prepared to dig deep. I find that they store their brood pretty deep in the nest, most noticeably L. neoniger. I don't have much experience with other Lasius. Lasius neoniger prefer open, sandy habitats. They seem to make mounds quite a lot in sand. They like sand so much that if they nest in dirt, the mound is still often made of sandy substrate! Lasius alienus and Lasius pallitarsis prefer forests. I am not sure about the subgenus Cautolasius (flavus and Nearcticus) (BTW, the species alienus, neoniger, and pallitarsis are in the subgenus Lasius, and other species that are very uncommon or not present in your area like the taxonomically destroyed Lasius niger. It gets confusing becuase the subgenus name is the name of the Genus itself!  )

 

Microscopes I'm looking at: http://www.amscope.c...gen-lights.html

 

http://www.microscop...pe-package.html

 

I actually discussed what microscope was ideal on a post I made.

 

I am a beginner with magnification stuff and photography, but AMscope seems to have a very wide variety of options.

 

I hope you are successful with your queens! We live relatively close too (I'm in Massachusetts) and we have similar ants in our area. We are both beginners so we will learn together! Lol 

 

 

Hm. Didn't realize Lasius were so hard to find. I also checked out your profile and I can't believe you're only 13! You seem like an adult :3

 

Anyways, I'm still figuring out what to do with my Parasite queen. I think I'll wait a little and resort to the "outdoor-finding" method. Hopefully my Speculiventris is still in good health by then.

 

I'll be in Massachusetts for the US Squash Nationals next weekend, maybe we can get together for a little early anting. If not, I'll definitely be in the Cambridge area for some college visiting during Spring Break, maybe we could set up a time to catch some of them sneaky winter ant queens!

 

Thanks so much for your help.

[Nathant2131]

I don't think we'll be able to meet up. 

 

Very interesting you refer to Lasius as hard to find. They are the most common genus in my area hands down. Lasius neoniger and Social Parasites in particular.

[Batspiderfish]

The queen in the first series of internet pictures is Lasius claviger, but the second two are both Lasius umbratus. If you use antwiki to look up Lasius nearcticus, you will find a picture of L. umbratus there, too. Lasius speculiventris has such a shiny gaster, you would know for sure if you saw it.