Need Help - Parasitic Lasius?

[mallonje]

Hi All,

Yesterday I was lucky enough to catch 3 queens of apparently the same species in North Central Massachusetts.

They are 2-3mm, Black to dark brown, they have 1 flat node on their petiole, and are hairless.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v7z8fz18mbjftpz/20180509_113331.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ooed8eabub35p2s/20180509_112724.jpg?dl=0

(sorry still working on my photo taking technique)

In chatting with others, they seem to suggest it might be Lasius Umbratus - and further comparing them I think he might be correct.

However as I'm new, and have no experience with Parasitic queens any help/ leg up I can get would be greatly appreciated.

[antnest8]

lasius umbratus definitly

[mallonje]

Thank you!

I see from your signature that you're a keeper of this species. Any Tips or how tos you'd be willing to pass on to someone new to the hobby?

[antnest8]

i'm a very new keeper but i have been able to get the queen to merge with the hosts. They just won't lay any brood. I think this is because i have found no host brood yet. if you can get some host brood. I suggest putting the workers in a big foraging area. big enough that all of the workers can be evenly spread out and not to near each other then i would give the workers several hiding places like a wet tissue or a test tube set up. (all of the hiding places need to be humid then drop the queen in.) the queen and workers will run around in panic but if all goes well the workers will not attack the queen. The queen should find a hiding spot where she will hide for a night. when you wake up check for dead workers. if you find some that is good and you can proceed to get the queen and the workers together by taking away all the hiding spots. their are other ways of combining them which are shown here.

http://www.formiculture.com/topic/3252-much-ado-about-the-founding-of-lasius-temporary-social-parasites/

[BleedingRaindrops]

If you're struggling with clear photos, I wrote a guide for getting great photos on the cheap.

http://forum.AntsCanada.com/viewtopic.php?p=21844#p21844