1. Collected in NE Ohio, Geauga county
2. Collected on 04/01, around 1630 hrs, temperature ~45°.
3. They were under the rocks of a fire pit that's located in the wooded area behind my home, adjacent to a creek.
4. Unsure of the size
5. The workers are orangish/yellow, the queens are brownish, with orange hues
7. They were tending aphids (some on the underside of rocks, some on tree roots when I found them
8. The fire pit is circular (~4' across) and probably has around ten fist to double fist size rocks marking it's circumference. There were workers and aphids under about half of them. And three queens I could see.
I'm guessing lasius brevicornis due to the aphid tending and the (possible) polygyny.
I say possible as I'm not 100% sure these queens belong to this colony. The queens didn't seem to be tended by any workers, the workers killed one of the queens in the few minutes I had them in the collection vial, and the queens seemed to be too shallow in the nest, they were directly exposed as I lifted the rocks but there were holes the workers were taking that went deeper.
I still have two of the queens, one that is in with the colony and, so far, has not been killed, and one I have separated in a founding setup.
Thank everybody again for the help.
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![20240401_190123.jpg](https://www.formiculture.com/uploads/monthly_04_2024/post-8277-0-25279100-1712014912.jpg)