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Lasius

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 8:47 am
by Will230145
So I have a queen who is black and looks like Lasius but has a spiked node and I sadly can't post pictures, I thought she was Lasius niger but this morning I saw a spike on her node, can Lasius niger have spiked nodes?

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 1:50 pm
by Batspiderfish
Node usually refers to the petiole, but the only ants with spines in North America belong to the Myrmicinae subfamily (Lasius belongs to Formicinae). Based on the time of year, location, and general proportions of Lasius, I am guessing that you have a Crematogaster queen. Just a guess, though, obviously.

Also, while Lasius niger is technically present in North America, the dark queens that hobbyists find are always Lasius alienus, Lasius neoniger, or Lasius pallitarsis.

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 3:07 pm
by Will230145
She only has one node, and it's lake a shark fin

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 8:34 pm
by Batspiderfish
Are you talking about the petiolar scale? Lasius and all members of Formicinae have one of those. All ants have either one or two petiole nodes.

Image

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2017 9:31 pm
by Will230145
Ooooh she has one petiole, she's fully black, she's the size of an average Lasius niger queen. Could she be Lasius niger?

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 9:14 am
by Will230145
https://imgur.com/user/Will230145

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 9:19 am
by Will230145
https://imgur.com/gallery/KJBfK



Do the links work?

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 9:21 am
by Will230145
If the links don't work how do I make them turn blue so you can click on them.

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:09 am
by Will230145
https://500px.com/photo/228526865

Re: Lasius

Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2017 10:31 am
by Batspiderfish
Your queen is Formica, although the species cannot be made out by these pictures. Images showing off the shininess of the whole gaster would help. Lasius niger Is very isolated (probably a different species from the Eurasian variety), and I've never seen a hobbyist find one outside of the Rocky Mountains.

You can use the URL2 brackets (on the right half of the tool bar) around the link to the album:

https://imgur.com/gallery/KJBfK

Or you can use the IMG brackets (the picture button, left-center) on the links to the individual photographs:

Image