The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Scynthius wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 09, 2017 8:50 pm

Maybe it's better if i just post the pictures here,

Queen 1


Queen 2


Queen 3


Queen 4


Queen 5


Queen 6


Queen 7


Queen 8

I have caught queen #5. I've also seen her workers in my area. They all look like majors, theyre awesome! First I thought she was formica ravida, but that isn't the case. Her head is too big.

here are some more close-ups on queen 5, we went and found some pupae and gave them to her, she seems to be taking care of them.

close ups of queen 4, seems her and the other 6 are all the same so we just took close ups of 4

Queen 3 some close up of her with measurements

Thank you for the measurements and suite of photographs!

The bright red queen (5) appears to be Formica aserva.

The black imaged black queen (4) is Formica podzolica. There are lots of black Formica in North America, and the differences are subtle, so you may find that you have more than one species.

I was stumped by the hairy queen (3) for a bit but now I realize that this is clearly Formica ulkei, another social parasite.

Once each queens nantics emerge I'll upload more pictures but for now i want to leave then be and see if they will lay eggs. We never saw any eggs with any of the queens yesterday when we were looking.(mind you we were trying not to disturb the on queenss we weren't taking pictures of as much as possible)

It's it normal for them to not have eggs by day 4?

Some Queens Simply Need More Time To Adjust B4 They Lay Their First Nanitics.
It Took A Month For My Philidris Queen, But A Day For My Camponotus Queen To Start Laying.

Formica do not keep any brood over the winter, so they may or may not get their first workers before next spring. Four days is too soon to worry, regardless.

Alright thanks. I Hope they lay before next spring though