The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

noebl1 wrote:Thanks to @Batspiderfish, he IDed today the two alates I found were:
Myrmecina Americana
Lasius Neoniger (!!)

@Batspiderfish Couple questions if you don't mind...

1. Do L. Neoniger fly over a few days? There's quite a few what I believe are. L. Neoniger colonies that I saw moving alates around a couple weeks ago after some vehicle damage, but didn't fly yet from what I can tell. Actually based on your term "armageddon", was expecting in the 3 hours I was outside I'd find more than one

2. Is night time the best time to look for L. Neoniger, or do they typically fly afternoons so best to look then?

Thanks!!!

I call it an armageddon because Lasius neoniger are very common, and when they fly, you often find them everywhere. There were hundreds of alates on the windows and doors of the place where I worked. I'm not attracting so many of them on my porch, though. Soon they'll be joined by the social parasites and Lasius (Cautolasius) spp.

noebl1 wrote:

Batspiderfish wrote:The Autumn Lasius armageddon has arrived in Portland, Maine.

They are flying here. Male alates everywhere stuck in spider webs. Just found a Lasius queen, will post to the other forum for ID shortly.

Do I have to use the photobucket thing to post pics or is there another way? How do you? Thanks!

noebl1 wrote:

Austheboss wrote:Do I have to use the photobucket thing to post pics or is there another way? How do you? Thanks!

I use Google Photos as I'm part of their ecosystem (vs Apple) so I share the pic, right click, get the URL and use it here. However flickr/photobucket/etc anywhere that lets you host photos and share will work

Ok thanks Neobl1

I am so jealous of you guys who live further away from urban areas. The smaller species are so much harder to find in Allston. I go searching when I get your notifications, but can't find a thing. I thought with all the pavement around me I would be able to find some Tetramorium, but nothing

zkublin wrote:I am so jealous of you guys who live further away from urban areas. The smaller species are so much harder to find in Allston. I go searching when I get your notifications, but can't find a thing. I thought with all the pavement around me I would be able to find some Tetramorium, but nothing

Ah, don't feel too bad. I know it's easy for me to say that, but you could go out and take trips to more wooded areas on humid, hot days. Also, there are plenty of GAN farmers in Massachusetts that are less than an hour away.
For an example of the more wooded area thing I was talking about, I went to a camp in a woody area and got my 2nd there. I also went camping and got another. So any trip like that out of town, take advantage of because on warm days I gaurentee somewhere ants will be flying. I only got one of my three queens near my house and that was from 2-3 weeks of searching. So schedule a day to go anting that is hot (forecast) and go searching. Good Luck!
Of course if by the end of the season, if you are super bummed, just buy some ants, or wait for prenolepis impairs next spring.

Lasius umbratus is flying this morning (?) in Portland, ME. I also found an interesting large Lasius parasite that was covered in dust. I need to wait for her to clean herself off for an ID. Formica was flaying as well. I found a Myrmica sp. dealate, although I'm willing to bet she flew earlier.

I believe Lasius speculiventris queens have been intermixed with the L. umbratus, but I haven't done any ID's yet. The unusual queen I found is about as large as Lasius subumbratus (and similar in coloration), but instead of the hairy gaster it is smooth and shiny. The hair coverage on the head and thorax are dissuading me from Lasius claviger, which I am yet to find in Maine. Anyways, I've seen hundreds of them today. Crematogaster sp. and Aphaenogaster rudis have also made an appearance. No sign yet of Lasius latipes, Ponera, or Stigmatomma (I hope to get to see this ant this year). I am also keeping an eye out for Aphaenogaster tennesseensis, which I fell in love with from the moment I saw this species.

I'm pretty sure Crematogaster are morning fliers. I saw them on my walk.

Tonight, there are tons of Lasius flavus/Lasius nearcticus as well as Lasius neoniger. It was too dark after I got out of work to look much harder, but I've put the big lights on and I'm eager to see what comes to them.

Batspiderfish wrote:I'm pretty sure Crematogaster are morning fliers. I saw them on my walk.

Tonight, there are tons of Lasius flavus/Lasius nearcticus as well as Lasius neoniger. It was too dark after I got out of work to look much harder, but I've put the big lights on and I'm eager to see what comes to them.

If you can catch some neoniger for those of us who don't get as many queens around our houses. I know I will take an extra queen or two off of you (If you are in Massachusetts of course)

zkublin wrote:

Batspiderfish wrote:I'm pretty sure Crematogaster are morning fliers. I saw them on my walk.

Tonight, there are tons of Lasius flavus/Lasius nearcticus as well as Lasius neoniger. It was too dark after I got out of work to look much harder, but I've put the big lights on and I'm eager to see what comes to them.

If you can catch some neoniger for those of us who don't get as many queens around our houses. I know I will take an extra queen or two off of you (If you are in Massachusetts of course)

Hey, I got 2 Lasius neoniger! One from this area one from Vermont. Word of caution they are very slow growers.
And the I have 5 of these weird gnarly queens that are very thin and red, going to be doing some googling and if nothing pops up I'll try to post pics on forum
But unfortunately Lasius neoniger doesn't have workers until June, so on the GAN project I will only have the tetramorium small colony I have, the Formica Subsiricea, and the weird Queen quintuplets until around June. SO yah.