Hello everyone! I found my first queen this summer. You all helped me identify her as Liometopum L Luctuosum. I'm not 100% this is correct but so far I'm going with it.
I found her Mid July 2018 in northern California, right outside my front door next to my mint/spearmint plants.
As of today (4 November 2018) she is still alive, her colony is growing, she now has about 40-50 workers and lots of eggs.
They love the maggots that come from my worm farm, they seem to like bloodworms and baby shrimp but they are so small and the bloodworms are juicy and sticky they can't carry any back to the nest, they just drink the juice. They like honey a lot, and will occasionally eat grapes and pears.
