Massachusetts Flight Sightings

[nightxwolf88]

Lasius alienus and Temnothorax flying tonight. Again attracted to lights so super easy to catch. Tons of L. Alienus mostly male alates while I was out there, but wasn't out too long. Just released one of my Temnothorax alates that hadn't laid eggs and still had wings (super active). Good luck to her tonight

Thanks for all the updates. The smaller species are a lot harder to spot here in the urban areas, I have been struggling. I am going to keep an eye out though. I wish I had a place not so close to the city, probably would be having more success like you are.

Idk I live in a pretty suburban area close to rural areas and I haven't seen any small species fly myself. I also dont have pheidole swarming to lights at night like Philadelphia does so prolly has to do with the local concentrations near you

[nightxwolf88]

I live in central NY and was hoping to see pheidole after pa reported them in large amounts but I had no such luck. Still looking of course.

[nightxwolf88]

I dont think il find anything local as easily as I found camponotus and tetranorium they are so abundant

[Austheboss]

I may have been mistaken after all. One of the colonies from yesterday was having another flight or prep for flight tonight as a ton of alates again. This time I grabbed one, and I may be wrong, they may not be Neoniger after all. I thought they were browner yesterday, however they are much darker, almost black, closer to a Alienus or Niger. Maybe I didn't miss Neoniger after all

Hi guys! Couldn't help noticing this discussion. I live really close to boston, like 30 minutes away. You guys seem pretty experienced, and I recently started, have a tetramorium queen with 2 workers, soon to be 3. I haven't seen any ants flying the past month or so, got my tetramorium around July 10. You guys seem to be having all the luck in your area. Oh well. If you guys see anything else (other than Lasius, doesn't seem to be any in my area) let me know please! Thanks!

[Austheboss]

Hi guys! Couldn't help noticing this discussion. I live really close to boston, like 30 minutes away. You guys seem pretty experienced, and I recently started, have a tetramorium queen with 2 workers, soon to be 3. I haven't seen any ants flying the past month or so, got my tetramorium around July 10. You guys seem to be having all the luck in your area. Oh well. If you guys see anything else (other than Lasius, doesn't seem to be any in my area) let me know please! Thanks!

Welcome! I'm just starting out too and learning. I live near Westford MA not far from the NH border, out in the woods, so a TON of certain varieties (Temnothorax, Camponotus, Lasius). However I got all my Tetramorium from a friend's pool He gave me about a dozen of them, 8 of them were fertile, so just gave a bunch away to another member.

My Tetramorium from this season have have 8-15 workers or so. I just noticed last night the Temnothorax queen I kept has her first 2... talk about tiny and orange.

FWIW, another member met me in Lexington yesterday, and he went for a walk along the rail trail that goes from Bedford to Cambridge yesterday, and he found a bunch of queens. That same day found in my office walking along the wall what's believed on another forum to be a Dolichoderus mariae... I always carry test tubes with me in my car, wife's car, work bag, etc as never know where/what you'll find.

My gosh, how many ants live in your area? In my suburban town we only have tetramorium and camponotus (mostly pennsylvanicus but some reddish orangish blackish) and I didn't really know about this hobby during the huge tetramorium flights that would have occurred in May and June. So I really missed the key flights of camponotus and tetramorium. I think If I go out near the forest where it's less populated I might have more luck. I'm actually really jealous of you guys. I only have one chance for a colony, so I really am looking for other options in case this one fails. I might have a chance at a camp in Wayland, where it's forest (I'm going next week), so I think I might have some luck. I found a queen there, but then a kid stepped on it (accidentally, they didn't notice it). I'm going to have my mom take me out near a more forested area, to maybe catch some more queens. It's nice to know that people in the anting community are very welcoming and helpful since I have just got into this interesting hobby.

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius are flying tonight in Maine! They are joined this evening by Brachymyrmex depilis.

I have also very recently seen: Crematogaster sp., Aphaenogaster sp., and Solenopsis molesta.

I have an aquarium lamp leaned over a bucket on the porch and the queens are coming to me!

[Batspiderfish]

Lasius Neoniger? I saw Lasius niger/alienus prepping for flights this evening. I have a 9pm call for work, so can't go out for a bit

I don't think I'll be seeing Lasius neoniger for a week or two. Their flights are probably the hardest to miss because of how common they are.

[Batspiderfish]

Lots of Formica glacialis and F. subsericea queens in Maine, today. Aphaenogaster sp. has also been having some small flights. I saw some tiny myrmicine queens that might have been Leptothorax muscorum, but I didn't really want to bother them to check.

[Austheboss]

YES!
It turns out now is the time for the ants to fly at my camp! I already caught one, and I saw dead males, and queens flying around (didn't catch them because when I tried catching the flying ones they only wanted to fly away again) I was able to catch one in the afternoon with no wings. There was another but it crawled under a root. Looks like I'm going to be fine in terms of ants in my area.

Another discovery too. I lifted some rocks and found these orangeish ants, which I believe to be Lasius Flavus, the lemon ant. They are under tons of rocks. Under most I saw alates, hopefully they are flying soon because I really like the color and they decently large too. Whats weird is that the males are black but the queens are the same color as the workers. Huh. I hope they fly soon so I can pick them up . They seem like a pretty cool species, and I saw lots of cocoons with them.
Good luck with the ants too! You seem to be having it.

[Batspiderfish]

More Byrachymyrmex depilis tonight. A few Lasius alienus queens showed up, as well as one Lasius nearcticus! The big, late-summer Lasius spp. flights should be coming up soon.

I'm predicting to see more where that came from on Thursday and Friday night, here in Portland, Maine.