The AntsCanada Ant Forum's

ecwp1981 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:16 am

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and any keeping, however, yesterday I managed to catch hundreds? of queens ants. My test tubes are on its way and I will be picking 20 of them for the testtubes. I think they are Lasius niger? a common black garden ant in the UK? If anyone can confirm, that will be great. Video link below:

https://youtu.be/kyY5YVh5EtE

Also if anyone near me wants some, please feel free to come over to collect them I dont think I have that many space for so many colonies lol.

Hard to tell exact species as no close-up but as you are from UK I'm certain their Lasius Niger as they are so common currently.

*** SPAM *** wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 21, 2018 11:33 am

Hard to tell exact species as no close-up but as you are from UK I'm certain their Lasius Niger as they are so common currently.

Thanks, I think I can safely say that they are Lasius Niger after lots of interaction and moving about 50 of them over to the test tube setups. After spending most of my life time killing ants, this is the first time I am caring for them and having them for pets and they are very fascinating, cleaning themselves, drinking from water droplets (I never seen ants drink before), as well as the queens laying eggs and looking after them.

Lets hope the ones that are test tubed will make it and have litters of their own. I might sell them off to hobbyist and keep 1 or two myself. Thinking of looking for some Myrmica Rubra now but they don't seem to be as common as the L.niger

Ants are interesting. I find Myrmica Rubra colonies are actually more common than you think. Just look around for the workers. As for nuptial flights they are normally later than L.Niger's. However I've never seen one as I am almost always away during August and early September:(

Hello I am from Quebec - Montreal area. I found 2 species of black ant queen. I would like to identify them. One is taller, about 20 mm. the egg are white yellowish. The other queen is smaller, about 11mm. on its back, there is a kind of translucide stripe. her eggs are pure white color.

Big Queen



Small Queen:



Can you help me with those ?

Hi AC Family!
I try to catch this "queen" yesterday and i have a big question, is that a queen, i guess not ... but i wait your decizion
Thanks
https://ibb.co/cSJN6K
https://ibb.co/hObQRK
https://ibb.co/gmE10e
https://ibb.co/fWZODz

nightshadow wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 31, 2018 3:49 pm

Hello I am from Quebec - Montreal area. I found 2 species of black ant queen. I would like to identify them. One is taller, about 20 mm. the egg are white yellowish. The other queen is smaller, about 11mm. on its back, there is a kind of translucide stripe. her eggs are pure white color.

Big Queen



Small Queen:



Can you help me with those ?

Queen one is Camponotus pennsylvanicus (Black Carpender ant) and queen 2 is a Formica species, (Field ant) most likely subsericea. I am keeping both.

Thank you AntsDakota, I thought the small one could be lasius niger but Formica make sense.

nightshadow wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:02 pm

Thank you AntsDakota, I thought the small one could be lasius niger but Formica make sense.

Lasius niger is actually rare in North America. Any black ant that looks like Lasius niger is actually Lasius americanus.

AntsDakota wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:17 pm

nightshadow wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:02 pm

Thank you AntsDakota, I thought the small one could be lasius niger but Formica make sense.

Lasius niger is actually rare in North America. Any black ant that looks like Lasius niger is actually Lasius americanus.

Actually they are more common than you think. The only way to tell for sure is by close examination of the antennae (counting the segments).

TheRealAntMan wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:20 pm

AntsDakota wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:17 pm

nightshadow wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:02 pm

Thank you AntsDakota, I thought the small one could be lasius niger but Formica make sense.

Lasius niger is actually rare in North America. Any black ant that looks like Lasius niger is actually Lasius americanus.

Actually they are more common than you think. The only way to tell for sure is by close examination of the antennae (counting the segments).

Batspiderfish told me that, and he's a pretty smart guy.