I'm really new to the ant keeping community, this is my first catch! I found her on a brick road, roaming in search of a good spot to start a nest. I was intrigued by her size, it is 8-10mm, never seen one this big here where I live.
The colour is really dark, I'd say black, but the legs and the antennae have a reddish shade under the right light. The abdomen has wonderful silver translucent shiny stripes, due to the distension caused by the eggs I think. She's very active, and likes to hide her head under the tissue/cotton I use for her hydration. She scattered her eggs all around the first big container I used to house her (now I switched to a test tube), but could be due to the stress I put on her, always looking and moving the container.
Based on Google Lens searches, I think she could be a Formica fusca or a Formica cunicularia, but I don't know what the differences are from this two (the Formica cunicularia is lighter and brownish in some photos, but I read that the colour may vary with the region).
Hope you can help! Ask me anything!
~Sam
