9 replies to this topic

[Mettcollsuss]

So a couple weeks back I found a Lasius queen. She's slightly larger than my L. niger queen. She shed her wings almost immediately, and a few days later she developed 'termite gaster' and her abdomen turned a bright yellow in the places that expanded. She doesn't have any eggs at the moment. I can't post photos at the moment, but I still want to ID her. I'm certain that she's either L. neoniger or L. flavus. Since I can't accurately describe her, can someone tell me the difference between the two so I can ID her? I'll post photos later.

[Nathant2131]

http://www.formicult...t-a-new-thread/

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius neoniger has erect hairs on the antennal scapes. Lasius flavus and Lasius nearcticus only have appressed hairs. Lasius nearcticus is a common Eastern North American cousin of L. flavus, and the two can only be told apart by looking at the end-segment of their maxillary palps (disregard antwiki's mislabeled photograph of the queen, featuring Lasius umbratus).

 

Your Lasius niger queen is almost certainly Lasius alienus.

Edited by Batspiderfish, October 3 2017 - 7:23 PM.

[Mettcollsuss]

Lasius neoniger has erect hairs on the antennal scapes. Lasius flavus and Lasius nearcticus only have appressed hairs. Lasius nearcticus is a common Eastern North American cousin of L. flavus, and the two can only be told apart by looking at the end-segment of their maxillary palps (disregard antwiki's mislabeled photograph of the queen, featuring Lasius umbratus).

 

Your Lasius niger queen is almost certainly Lasius alienus.

 

Not that I don't trust your word, as you've been doing this longer then me, but what makes you say my (possibly) L. niger queen is L. alienus? Not that it's a bad thing. Both species are fine with me. Also, L. flavus and L. nearcticus are both subterranean species and farm root aphids for food. How will they adjust to a standard setup? What do I feed them? Is there a special setup for them?

[Batspiderfish]

Flavus-group Lasius do fine in captivity.

 

Lasius niger is only found in isolated pockets around coast lines and in mountains. I have only seen one confirmed ID from hobbyists, and that was in the Rocky Mountains. It's also unlikely to be the real Lasius niger, and some sort of native equivalent. I would speculate that the vast overestimate of its range is due to misidentification or outdated taxonomy. In any case, Lasius niger is one of the larger species of Lasius, and L. alienus is smaller. Going on coloration alone, L. niger is one of the most frequent mistakes in identity for North America, right next to Myrmica rubra and Formica fusca (which its American form is now called Formica subaenescens).

 

If you want to confirm, look for the same erect hairs that Lasius niger,  Lasius neoniger, and Lasius pallitarsis would have. Lasius alienus have only appressed hairs, like the flavus group.

Edited by Batspiderfish, October 4 2017 - 6:18 AM.

[Mettcollsuss]

Flavus-group Lasius do fine in captivity.

 

Lasius niger is only found in isolated pockets around coast lines and in mountains. I have only seen one confirmed ID from hobbyists, and that was in the Rocky Mountains. It's also unlikely to be the real Lasius niger, and some sort of native equivalent. I would speculate that the vast overestimate of its range is due to misidentification or outdated taxonomy. In any case, Lasius niger is one of the larger species of Lasius, and L. alienus is smaller. Going on coloration alone, L. niger is one of the most frequent mistakes in identity for North America, right next to Myrmica rubra and Formica fusca (which its American form is now called Formica subaenescens).

 

If you want to confirm, look for the same erect hairs that Lasius niger,  Lasius neoniger, and Lasius pallitarsis would have. Lasius alienus have only appressed hairs, like the flavus group.

 

My L. niger/alienus queen died a few weeks ago, but I still have a good memory of how big she was.

[Mettcollsuss]

Well, I can cross L. pallitarsis of the list of suspects, as they don't live in Illinois.

[Batspiderfish]

Well, I can cross L. pallitarsis of the list of suspects, as they don't live in Illinois.

 

Yeah, they do. They are easily misidentified between Lasius neoniger and are better studied where they are in great abundance (West Coast) or where attention is given to their social parasite, Lasius subumbratus. They prefer to nest in forests, whereas Lasius neoniger nests in open areas.

[Mettcollsuss]

I found this queen on my school playground. It looked like she was coming from the garden. The garden has 7 species that I've seen: Lasius alienus, a yellow Lasius species (not flavus group because I saw them above ground), Ponera pennsylvanica (stumbled across a flight, caught a queen), Tetramorium sp. E, Tapinoma sessile, Lasius claviger group (saw a nuptial flight and caught 3 queens), and Lasius umbratus group (again, nuptial flight. Caught 1 queen).  However, this queen still could be flavus group, even though I haven't seen them, which makes sense because Lasius flavus lives underground.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, October 9 2017 - 9:13 AM.

[Mettcollsuss]

I don't have anything to see close up on the queen to see her antennal hairs. Is there any other way to tell them apart?