2 replies to this topic

[Jamiesname]

Location: Northeastern Michigan, lower penninsula. I found these girls under a large stone.

Date caught: 6-4-18

Length: 10mm.

Coloration: Reddish head and mesosoma, black gaster.

Other info: There were at least 3 of these queens scurrying back into the colonies' holes after I flipped the rock, so they must be polygyne. There is 2 different Formica species living within this colony, so the red and black queens' colony is either a Formica slaver species, or parasitic.

Edited by Jamiesname, June 4 2018 - 4:00 PM.

[Batspiderfish]

Looks to be a raiding species, yes. They typically aren't suitable for captivity because most species are dependent on their host workers.

[Jamiesname]

I'll hold onto her. Maybe she'll lay some eggs and end up being parasitic and not a slaver. I'll catch another of the queens from the same colony if that turns out to be the case.