The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

Found this winged alate climbing up my wall. Dark red head and thorax reddish black gastor. About one cm long. There was a golden orange winged ant in my house earlier today, possibly a male of this species? I have only seen one of each today, could these be last years? Or is it just a sporatic flight for this species? Any help in identifying the species would be much appreciated! Also, is she fully or semi claustral, and I hope she is not a parasite queen...

We would need to see the front of the head.

Batspiderfish wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 12:34 am

We would need to see the front of the head.

The best shot I could get...

I couldn't tell which species she is by the pictures, but definitely a social parasite. As long as she is not one of the dependent raiding species from the sanguinea group (she would have a hairlip-like notch on her clypeus) then it should be relatively easy to keep her, so far as social parasites go. Formica are able to open cocoons, which this queen would only need about 6.

I hope I could find a Formica social parasite. S.D. has plenty of species, including F. dakotensis. (Would especially like to keep that one.)

Batspiderfish wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 4:00 pm

I couldn't tell which species she is by the pictures, but definitely a social parasite. As long as she is not one of the dependent raiding species from the sanguinea group (she would have a hairlip-like notch on her clypeus) then it should be relatively easy to keep her, so far as social parasites go. Formica are able to open cocoons, which this queen would only need about 6.

Thank you for your input! I will attempt to keep her and see what happens

NKantsalberta wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 6:12 pm

Batspiderfish wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 06, 2018 4:00 pm

I couldn't tell which species she is by the pictures, but definitely a social parasite. As long as she is not one of the dependent raiding species from the sanguinea group (she would have a hairlip-like notch on her clypeus) then it should be relatively easy to keep her, so far as social parasites go. Formica are able to open cocoons, which this queen would only need about 6.

Thank you for your input! I will attempt to keep her and see what happens

Unfortunately this queen passed while I was away on vacation, no pupae were opened either