Minot Air Force Base, ND #6

[FarrAnts]

Take some pupae from a Formica colony and give it to her, that should work for a parasitic Formica.

Awesome! Thanks a ton. How do I tell if it's a formica colony?

[Martialis]

First off, I'm going to say I'm no expert in Formica.

From what I've noticed, Formica nests tend to be a bit more obvious.

Many Formica sp. build mounds of loose dirt with many entrances.

That said, your queen may need wood ant pupae, from a nest even more obvious. Although it is rare for the mounds to be incredibly large, the thatched mounds are easily spotted.

Here's a picture of an F. ravida nest taken by GAN farmer Andrew Smith:


Be careful with wood ants, though - their aggressiveness in nest defense is renowned; they may have something to say about you taking their pupae from them!

Alternatively, you could take a few pupae from one of your Formica queens.

[FarrAnts]

First off, I'm going to say I'm no expert in Formica.

From what I've noticed, Formica nests tend to be a bit more obvious.

Many Formica sp. build mounds of loose dirt with many entrances.

That said, your queen may need wood ant pupae, from a nest even more obvious. Although it is rare for the mounds to be incredibly large, the thatched mounds are easily spotted.

Here's a picture of an F. ravida nest taken by GAN farmer Andrew Smith:


Be careful with wood ants, though - their aggressiveness in nest defense is renowned; they may have something to say about you taking their pupae from them!

Alternatively, you could take a few pupae from one of your Formica queens.

Alright. I am a bit worried though because the formica queens I have only have eggs. I went and found some formica brood, but it wasn't cocconed and looked like a curled up white ant. Is that ok?

[Martialis]

That is a pupa, how many did you grab?

[FarrAnts]

First off, I'm going to say I'm no expert in Formica.

From what I've noticed, Formica nests tend to be a bit more obvious.

Many Formica sp. build mounds of loose dirt with many entrances.

That said, your queen may need wood ant pupae, from a nest even more obvious. Although it is rare for the mounds to be incredibly large, the thatched mounds are easily spotted.

Here's a picture of an F. ravida nest taken by GAN farmer Andrew Smith:


Be careful with wood ants, though - their aggressiveness in nest defense is renowned; they may have something to say about you taking their pupae from them!

Alternatively, you could take a few pupae from one of your Formica queens.

This is what it looks like right now. Should I take them out?

[Martialis]

That's okay, I would leave her alone in the dark now.

[FarrAnts]

That's okay, I would leave her alone in the dark now.

Alright. I had her with them, the grabbed one, then ignored the rest. After that she lost interest in the first one she grabbed and started biting the cotton for her exit out of the test tube. Should I just look for cocconed ones?

[Martialis]

No, just leave her alone.

[FarrAnts]

No, just leave her alone.

Ok.

[Batspiderfish]

There's no way we're identifying her to the species without the proper photos -- determining whether their is a clypeal notch, for starters. Either way, these particular social parasites just need Formica pupae.

Those pupae look like they are myrmicine, not Formica pupae. Bring back some workers for identification if you aren't certain.