Lasius umbratus queens

[AntThug420]

can Lasius umbratus queens be together in a colony ?

[PTasker15]

No.Parasetic Ant Queens Have...Problems Together

[antnest8]

No.Parasetic Ant Queens Have...Problems Together

[PTasker15]

No.Parasetic Ant Queens Have...Problems Together

Lol Its True. They'll Just Kill Each-Other

[AntsDakota]

From my experience, you can put several non-parasitic Lasius queens together and they will get along fine. They will groom each other, and huddle in groups. Lasius neoniger and Lasius alienus are a lot more common than Lasius umbratus, and they're non-parasitic too. So look for their queens in August. Lasius neoniger is known as the Labor Day ant, because they fly on or near Labor Day.

[antnest8]

From my experience, you can put several non-parasitic Lasius queens together and they will get along fine. They will groom each other, and huddle in groups. Lasius neoniger and Lasius alienus are a lot more common than Lasius umbratus, and they're non-parasitic too. So look for their queens in August. Lasius neoniger is known as the Labor Day ant, because they fly on or near Labor Day.

i haven't heard of lasius being polygenous. when did you get this experience, did this work out long term, is the colony still alive? i've heard of them getting along in the founding stage but after the queens will fight leaving all but one dead and the one still alive injured and likely to die later on.

[AntsDakota]

Last fall I caught about 50 Lasius queens with a net while in flight. I kept them in a container until I could separate them because I heard of Lasius being monogylous and was concerned. Unfortunately, those queens all died. I raised one sucessful Lasius alienus colony, but it only had one queen. That colony died too. I didn't get from the test tube settup that the water should be seeping through the cotton. I left the cotton in contact with the queen dry. Some queens tried to dig to get to the water. So they probably died of thirst. I tried putting several Lasius queens in a test tube and they got along fine the whole way until they died of thirst. And the queen that sucessfully raised a colony was in a dirt setup. Check the internet for Lasius and you will find pictures of Lasius colonies with workers and multiple queens.
But now I know better and will try again with Formica argentea queens (one of the most common ants in South Dakota). I found about three or four queens wandering my driveway after nuptial flights last summer. They all layed eggs, and raised them into pupae, and then got stressed and ate their brood. They repeated this until they all died. (They were in dirt as well.) Wild Formica argentea workers are now starting to emerge from colonies around town.