Southern Ontario (Toronto) - Lasius ??

[Batspiderfish]

They do try to run on a calendar, in a way. A given species of ant will try to fly at certain times of they year, but the many variables like temperature, wind speed, moisture content, and availability of food will skew their mating period in one direction or another. They will only fly when all of the conditions are just right. It is usually very windy in the city I live, so despite all of the heat and moisture that the rest of my state experienced, the flights where I am were typically delayed by a week or more as wind cancelled out days with otherwise ideal conditions.

I agree that the mating calendars we have right now leave a lot to be desired. DspDrew, from Formiculture, and I are each working on improved mating charts. Right now, mine only tracks the locations and times of the year that ants like to fly, but the database is designed to eventually accommodate the environmental factors leading up to these flights. I plan on stripping weather data from wunderground.org's weather history, although this data will not be perfect.

Here is a very rough draft of my present data on Lasius, this genus representing about 163/1032 records:


It was too frustrating for me to work with OpenOffice, so I haven't taken the time to label this image. From top to bottom, we have:
L. californicus L. claviger L. interjectus L. latipes L. murphyi L. flavus L. nearcticus L. minutus L. speculiventris L. subumbratus L. umbratus L. alienus L. crypticus L. neoniger L. niger L. pallitarsis

Note that this chart does not track nuptial flights -- only what times that queens can be found above-ground. Since we don't necessarily know how long a dealated queen has been running around, that detail is largely omitted. Lasius social parasites in the early spring are ones that overwintered before setting out to look for a host colony.

[MLavers]

Seems that you and I have some similar notions on this. I like it. If you need any assistance in compiling data, I'd be happy to help out.

I've been using timeanddate.com/weather to get my historical weather data for various locations. I've been able to find hourly weather info for different cities at different times.

Do you have any personal experiences you can share on what time you've seen Lasius flights? Like the Pittsburgh nuptial flight that was reported on 19 Sep. That one was around 6pm. The one here was earlier in the day.

In the spring, I'm hoping to start pulling down reports of other ant species as well, but I figure I should start with one.

Thanks,

ML

[Batspiderfish]

To the best of my experience, Lasius start flying in the afternoon, as early as 2 PM, with the most alates appearing at around 7 PM. I have seen Lasius umbratus alates taking off as early as 10 AM, but I assume these are reproductives that flew the night before and were grounded by low temperatures.

[jotapeh]

Data! I like this. I'll do my best to accurately/succinctly catalogue my sightings:

All in Southwestern Toronto (Etobicoke, Mimico area)

Sep 18, roughly 2-5PM EST
Sunny, calm winds, medium humidity
3 Lasius sp. (one of which I kept, being Lasius neoniger)

Sep 21, roughly 3-6PM EST
Few clouds, calm winds, somewhat dry
1 Myrmica Queen
1 Camponotus Male

The IDs were made by @Batspiderfish earlier in this thread, and he noted that the camponotus flight was particularly late

Side note. Almost without exception I have found all these about two blocks away from my home, in an area near a field by a factory/warehouse. Many of them were flying very poorly, landing upside down frequently and struggling. I spotted one which was rapidly fluttering its wings but could not take off.

Not sure if they had been harmed, perhaps by a lawnmower or pesticide?

[Batspiderfish]

Ants are awful fliers.

[MLavers]

Not surprising when you think about it. The alates spend almost their entire lives underground. The nuptial flight is their very first time spreading their wings, and they get to do the whole thing while sexually charged. It's a wonder they can fly at all under those circumstances.

[MLavers]

Last night (October 6th) was a good night for Lasius. I caught 6 additional Lasius Claviger, and saw many more that I just couldn't be bothered to catch. All were caught approx. 6pm.

I also came up with a Myrmica queen, and something I haven't ID'd yet. I think it might be a Camponotus worker, but it's moving too fast for me and I haven't gotten a good photo yet.

And this evening (October 7th) I found only one queen. A Lasius Neoniger (finally).

Weather on both evenings was just above 20C, calm. Not particularly humid to me, but I'll have to check the %RH.