The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Hi @ all,
I just startet with 'Ant Keeping' and need some help with identifying an ant that i caught about 2 weeks ago by sheer luck.
So what do you think about this one?

(Sorry about the quality of the photos, i will try to provide better ones when i get a suitable camera next week... )

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dnvz5awb1ikd073/IMG_0716.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yzzv0b96wk7w6s9/IMG_20190612_033443.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9uxylz4lcno396j/IMG_20190612_034518.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vivhus3wv32n147/IMG_20190612_034536.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m70tix3b5jyvjqn/IMG_20190612_034424.jpg?dl=0

Here's some data on the capturing circumstances and my observation:

-Date found:
31.05.2019

-Time found:
~18:05 (CEST / UTC+2 (summer time))

-Country found in:
Germany, Lower Saxony

-City found in:
Lüneburg

-Coordinates found at:
53°14'23.8"N 10°27'46.7"E

-GoogleMaps link:
https://goo.gl/maps/1pQGAVMShmZa9ZqA7

-Place found in:
Parking lot Bauhaus

-Egg-count (estimate):
~15-20 ? (clutched together)

-Queen-size (estimate):
~6-8 mm (will try to provide better measurements )

-Circumstances:
Flew directly into the car while letting the hot air out of the windows, landed on the front passenger seat so i just caught it.

-Breeding process:
After the capturing and migration to the test tube, it took about 3 days after which 'she' shed her wings. 5 days in after capturing she lay what looks to be eggs.

-Behavior
Quite docile, neither moves fast nor around in the test tube chamber, sticks to the eggs and the cotton that separates the chamber from the water supply. Does not touch food offerings such as honey or tiny insects.


Thanks in advance,
i hope you can help me with the data provided =D !

Best regards,
p4Wn

For easier reading here the pictures cropped and linked to imgur :

Could it be Lasius niger?
You can find a picture of a Lasius niger queen on Wikipedia and compare it to yours:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garden_ant

Hi Bmeise,

you could definitely be right from the looks of it!

http://www.ameisenforum.de/schwarmflug.php
I found this chart with the nuptial flights in germany, but according to it,
they should not have had their nuptial flights at the time and other sources seem to agree...
ameisenforum.de (chart above): End of june till start of september.
en.wikipedia.org: "...in Europe they generally take place during the hot summer months of July and August."
antwiki.org: "Mating swarms occur from July to late August..."

Can the nuptial flights really deviate by that much?

Size wise, coloration (yellow-brownish stripes on it's abdomen) and the seemingly completely claustral behavior do certainly fit in any case!

I found some other Lasius sub-geni that somewhat fit as well (correct me if I'm wrong), but except one (Lasius brunneus) the time for the nuptial flights seems off (if the chart I linked to above is accurate in that department)...
- Lasius brunneus
- Lasius flavus

I hope I'll be able to take some better pictures soon and if she survives I guess the nanitics and/or later the workers might shed some final light on the sub-genus.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction !