31 replies to this topic

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

I caught 3 Camponotus!!!! two are Camponotus pennsylvanicus and the other is a Camponotus novaeboracensis with a deformed head. Basically 1/4th of her head is missing and is missing her left eye. The Camponotus penns removed their wings too.

 

Oh yeah, I also forgot to mention that I put the two Camponotus pennsylvanicus queens together just for a bit and now they look so happy together. Now I’m going to feel very guilty when separating them.

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, May 14 2025 - 4:54 PM.

[Stubyvast]

Tetramorium immigrans flew yesterday morning, about 6:30, Vancouver area of BC. Caught three queens, one (of course) half drowned in our pool. Catch as many of these as possible folks, they're everywhere!

 

Edited by Stubyvast, July 1 2025 - 11:17 AM.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

After my period of inactivity, I have come with a nuptial report! Tetras are now picking up flights here in MTL, though it was not in vast numbers but only a few here and there. I do expect that the big nuptial flights will happen soon.

 

I am looking out for Lasius, specifically the parasitic species

Edited by OwlThatLikesAnts, July 7 2025 - 5:16 AM.

[TheGamblingAnt]

After my period of inactivity, I have come with a nuptial report! Tetras are now picking up flights here in MTL, though it was not in vast numbers but only a few here and there. I do expect that the big nuptial flights will happen soon.

I am looking out for Lasius, specifically the parasitic species

How do you personally get parasitic queens started? I've tried a few of the methods posted on here and I can never get it to work, I've failed 5x this year so far. How many workers do you try to introduce to the queen? The method that seems to have most success is the tub and tube setup where you put workers and brood in one, and then the queen in another tube next to them and just wait. 3 out of 4 times the workers killed the queen and the other time the queen killed all the workers and then died. It's possible I'm not doing the right worker/brood ratio I'm not sure! The other time I tried I just put the queen directly in a test tube with some workers and brood and she was killed within hours so that didn't work either.

[L.H]

 

After my period of inactivity, I have come with a nuptial report! Tetras are now picking up flights here in MTL, though it was not in vast numbers but only a few here and there. I do expect that the big nuptial flights will happen soon.

I am looking out for Lasius, specifically the parasitic species

How do you personally get parasitic queens started? I've tried a few of the methods posted on here and I can never get it to work, I've failed 5x this year so far. How many workers do you try to introduce to the queen? The method that seems to have most success is the tub and tube setup where you put workers and brood in one, and then the queen in another tube next to them and just wait. 3 out of 4 times the workers killed the queen and the other time the queen killed all the workers and then died. It's possible I'm not doing the right worker/brood ratio I'm not sure! The other time I tried I just put the queen directly in a test tube with some workers and brood and she was killed within hours so that didn't work either.

 

For parasitic species, a way that works almost every time for me is to try to catch brood with workers. Specifically pupae. Then to wait until a worker ecloses and give the callow to the queen. After introducing the worker for a few hours, introduce the rest of the brood and wait for the callow worker to help them eclose. This method works well because the callow worker has yet to become aggressive and used to the original colony's pheromones, so it will instead get used to the parasitic queen's pheromones and will recognize her as the queen. Adding the cocoons in is just a way to increase the number of workers that will be completely loyal to the queen.

[TheGamblingAnt]

Ok very good idea thank you LH I will give that a shot. I've got 2 lasius aphidicola (I think) right now in tubes waiting for me to find some workers. One of these days I'll go out and find a colony to snatch some workers and some pupae.

[OwlThatLikesAnts]

Ok very good idea thank you LH I will give that a shot. I've got 2 lasius aphidicola (I think) right now in tubes waiting for me to find some workers. One of these days I'll go out and find a colony to snatch some workers and some pupae.

I have my own weird ways of introducing workers to parasitic lasius queens, it involves basically delicately removing the pupa shells of like 5-10 (depending on the number of pupa I caught) and just dumping them in to the nest, it works sometimes when they enclose but the queen doesn't really help them. The other way I introduce workers is by flipping rocks and target callow workers and pupa on the verge of enclosing, usually callow workers are harder to find so that's why I also collect pupa that's going to enclose and enclose them myself.

 

I also came here to say that there is a lot of Lasius niger group ants flying and I had a big nuptial here recently. It also recently rained today so I have high hopes that there will be another big nuptial flight, hopefully parasitic lasius. 

[Stubyvast]

Lasius flew today in BC! Very hot today, somewhat humid, light wind. In other words, perfect conditions. Yesterday I also caught a parasitic Formica (posted it for an ID), so I'll try looking for some source of pupae. As for the Lasius, I'll post some pics when I have an opportunity. Didn't catch any this time around, as I'm already pretty loaded down with colonies. Good luck BC ant keepers!

[Stubyvast]

As promised: Some photos.

 

 

 

[Ants_Dakota]

That is a really unique queen; she may not be Lasius neoniger!

Edited by Ants_Dakota, August 23 2025 - 3:43 PM.

[Stubyvast]

Manica invidia flew today, judging by the queen I saw running around earlier and the one found dead in the pool. Oddly enough, I find these in March most of the time, and I suspect that they overwinter with their parent colonies before founding their own next year, or they're just another species. 

[Stubyvast]

Another Manica invidia flight! Witnessed it in my backyard, the previous one seems to have been some sort of precursor to today's. There were at least a hundred here, including males this time. I also noticed that there seems to be quite a variation in color. There's darker variants that look almost like tetramorium, and lighter variants that I'm more familiar with. It could, however, just be a lighting thing.