ID: Southwestern Ontario Canada

[MorbidBugg]

Those are waaaay better pictures. Good job. The one with the pepper shaped gaster is a male... the other one may be a small female...

But let me get back to gushing on your picture. Is that fuzz on top of that ant? These are quite excellent photos good job.

[Cichlid]

Which picture has the fuzz in question?

[MorbidBugg]

Which picture has the fuzz in question?

The second picture from the new set of links in the third you can kinda see it as well but not as much

[Cichlid]

The fuzz in that pic is condensation or moisture within the test tube

[Batspiderfish]

"sp." just stands for species. There is also "spp." for species pluralis (more than one species) and "cf." for comparable to (when you can't prove an identity but it looks similar, e.g. Formica cf. ulkei).

Which brings me to the identity of the reddish "male". She is actually a social parasite queen, Formica ulkei from the exsecta group of Formica. She will need about 6-8 Formica worker pupae in order to start a colony (and a snack, in the meanwhile).

I can't really tell much from the photographs of the black queens because they are pretty dark, but all are claustral Formica queens.

[MorbidBugg]

Which brings me to the identity of the reddish "male". She is actually a social parasite queen, Formica ulkei from the exsecta group of Formica. She will need about 6-8 Formica worker pupae in order to start a colony (and a snack, in the meanwhile).

That is cool, it just goes to show that certain tell traits can be deceiving..

[Pabloof7]

Sp. stands for species

[Cichlid]

"sp." just stands for species. There is also "spp." for species pluralis (more than one species) and "cf." for comparable to (when you can't prove an identity but it looks similar, e.g. Formica cf. ulkei).

Which brings me to the identity of the reddish "male". She is actually a social parasite queen, Formica ulkei from the exsecta group of Formica. She will need about 6-8 Formica worker pupae in order to start a colony (and a snack, in the meanwhile).

I can't really tell much from the photographs of the black queens because they are pretty dark, but all are claustral Formica queens.

By this do you mean I can feed her and wait for my other new formica to get some pupae? Or will she need the pupae sooner than the new ladies can produce? Also just thinking out loud could I group up 2 or 3 of these other Formica queens and take some pupae from the group as to not stunt 1queen to badly ? Provided they are the type to get along ?

I'll try to get clearer pics of the gasters of the black ones tonight

[Cichlid]

Here are some updated gaster shots. Depending on the angle the lighter areas seem almost see through.

https://imgur.com/a/P1SAXX5

[Cichlid]

Hey Batspiderfish did these new pics give any more clarity ?