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UK Queen ID please

Started By steelplant , Jul 18 2020 2:19 AM

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12 replies to this topic

#1 Offline steelplant - Posted July 18 2020 - 2:19 AM

steelplant

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Hi all. Wondered whether anyone can ID my new queen please? Found yesterday in meadow, around 5-6 mm. I actually thought she'd died in the night so didn't get a very good photo, sorry. I put her in a tubs and tubes set up as her gaster is small and I figured she's semi-claustral (and I thought she was dead so didn't wait for ID unfortunately) and I just checked and she's clearly extremely alive. 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. One of the catches I made yesterday was clearly a spider when I got it home, so I don't know what happened there. Several of my Lasius niger have laid eggs though, and the Myrmica sp I caught a month or so ago has tons of brood.

 

 IMG_20200718_092012311.jpg


#2 Offline ANTdrew - Posted July 18 2020 - 2:28 AM

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Formica species worker, I believe.
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#3 Offline steelplant - Posted July 18 2020 - 2:55 AM

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Thanks ANTdrew. She is much smaller than the formica workers I mistook for queens the other week and differently coloured (but could be a different formica species worker of course). I think she found the brown sugar water as her gaster has now swollen considerably. 

 

Just looked at the photo again and is that actually an egg? Not the blob near her body, but a wee bit further down?

 

She does look (to my noob eye) a whole lot like my myrmica queen. But of course, I want to believe. 


#4 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 18 2020 - 4:42 AM

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I’m sorry but this is clearly a Formica worker. Fusca group, maybe F. fusca itself. Also, if it laid any eggs, they are tropic and will only be used to feed the rest of the colonies larvae, however I saw the thing you thought was an egg, but I think it is just debris or something.

#5 Offline steelplant - Posted July 18 2020 - 5:42 AM

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Many thanks guys. Thanks for your patience too. Just found a drone in the garden so will have another hunt.


#6 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 18 2020 - 5:51 AM

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Many thanks guys. Thanks for your patience too. Just found a drone in the garden so will have another hunt.

Once you find a queen, it will be pretty easy to tell workers apart from them. Good luck!

#7 Offline TheMicroPlanet - Posted July 18 2020 - 7:25 AM

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Also, if it laid any eggs, they are tropic and...

Did you mean "trophic"? Small mistake, no big deal.


My ants

https://www.formicul... themicroplanet

#8 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted July 18 2020 - 7:45 AM

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Also, if it laid any eggs, they are tropic and...

Did you mean "trophic"? Small mistake, no big deal.
Yes.

#9 Offline TechAnt - Posted July 18 2020 - 9:05 AM

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Just know in comparison, the queens are very bulky and bigger then the workers.
My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#10 Offline AntsDakota - Posted July 18 2020 - 10:28 AM

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Just know in comparison, the queens are very bulky and bigger then the workers.

At least for Formica, that is. Many Myrmicinaes and Ponerinaes have queens which look very similar to workers.


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"God made..... all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. (including ants) And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:25 NIV version

#11 Offline TechAnt - Posted July 18 2020 - 10:34 AM

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Just know in comparison, the queens are very bulky and bigger then the workers.


At least for Formica, that is. Many Myrmicinaes and Ponerinaes have queens which look very similar to workers.
Yeah, I should have made it clearer that I was speaking for Formica.
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My Ants:
(x1) Campontous semitstaceus ~20 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Camponotus vicinus ~10 workers, 1 Queen (all black variety)
(x1) Tetramorium immigrans ~100 workers, 1 Queen
(x1) Myrmercocystus mexicanus -1 Queen
(x2) Mymercocystus mimcus -1 Queen
(x1) Mymercocystus testaceus ~45 workers, 1 Queen

#12 Offline ponerinecat - Posted July 18 2020 - 10:58 AM

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You'll get used to spotting queens pretty fast. A few weeks of hunting hypoponera adjusted my brain to spot ergatoid queens quickly.


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#13 Offline steelplant - Posted July 18 2020 - 11:26 AM

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Thanks guys. Lasius niger queens were super easy but my mojo is definitely on the blink now. Last night out of 7 finds, 2 were worker ants, 4 were bugs and one was a freaking spider. And it still had all its 8 legs. Anyway, I've added a magnifying glass to the field kit.

 

Thanks for your advice and encouragement. I'll take these ladies back where I found them. And watch some more videos.


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