Northern Ontario (Thunder Bay) Queens caught Aug 29

[ameablable]

Hello,
I had an amazing ant day while walking through the residential area of the city of Thunder Bay.
I caught 6 queens!
They all seem to be the same species but I can't put my finger on what they are.
I'm pretty sure they are some sort of Formica queen.

They are all roughly 10mm in length.
Caught in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Caught on August 29th, 2017.

Here is a picture of two of the queens.

[Gavinthesheep1234567]

It looks like there is to much water going through the cotton in your test tube try adding more cotton

[ameablable]

Will do.

[Phoenix]

Formica Spp.

[Perkdawg]

Yep, they are most definitely of the Formica genus, more specifically the Formica fusca species group. Species in this group are very difficult to distinguish, and only small differences separate the species. From what I see though, they most likely are Formica fusca, but there's still a possibility they could be Formica subsericea or Formica podzolica. Maybe someone else can get a more precise ID.

[Perkdawg]

Yep, they are most definitely of the Formica genus, more specifically the Formica fusca species group. Species in this group are very difficult to distinguish, and only small differences separate the species. From what I see though, they most likely are Formica fusca, but there's still a possibility they could be Formica subsericea or Formica podzolica. Maybe someone else can get a more precise ID.

Wait I think I was wrong. (Sorry!) After looking over the photos again I'm 99% sure she's Camponotus. Probably Camponotus pennsylvanicus or maybe Camponotus modoc (although Thunder Bay is near the edge of modoc's range) The head size and shape indicates Camponotus. Formica would have a much smaller head.

[ameablable]

Seriously? She just doesn't seem big enough for camponotus Pennsylvanicus, because I've seen workers bigger than her.
She is 1cm in length.

Also the camponotus americanus queens I witnessed earlier in the year were half a centimeter bigger.

I was really hoping for Formica aswell. Darn.
Because my old Formica Podzolica queen sadly didn't work out.

[Batspiderfish]

This is Formica sp.

[ameablable]

Formica Spp.

This is Formica sp.

Okay!
Sorry @perkdawg, but I'm going to trust the majority in this one.

[Perkdawg]

Formica Spp.

This is Formica sp.

Okay!
Sorry @perkdawg, but I'm going to trust the majority in this one.

Haha maybe I should have trusted my first impulse. Sorry for the confusion. Batspiderfish is definitely the more trustable source for this info anyway. Good luck!