Two years.
For two years, I've taken my "break" from ants (in reality, I was severely burnt out). And this year, I'm trying my best to break that. I've always complained about, "Oh, I'll start ant keeping again when I can drive." "Oh, I'll keep ants when I find Pheidole pilifera." Too many excuses, this is my last year before university (jee willigers!), so I figured I gotta lock in, no matter the species. As a consequence (or blessing) of my late-coming, my first queens I catch from a nuptial flight are Lasius neoniger. I'll admit, I've been a longtime fan of Lasius, so I'm not complaining, anything to get me back into the hobby (admittedly I wish it was a species that laid eggs prior to diapause, but beggars can't be choosers).
I'm partially making this journal to record how they grow (I did catch 12 queens), but I'm also making this to hold myself accountable. If there's no update spring of next year, anyone has permission to punch me.
I'm just going to get a few things out of the way here:
How do you know it's Lasius neoniger?
I'm, like, 70% confident it's L. neoniger from the colonies I saw preparing alates today (definitely not L. brevicornis, and considering it's in suburban Massachusetts, I'm more inclined to believe it's not L. americanus). That, and it's been so long that I forgot the names of every non-parasitic Lasius species besides neoniger, brevicornis, and americanus. Also, it's Labour Day, so it feels like it kind of has to be because of their nickname (I do realize ants don't follow societal dates). Also, the queens told me themselves when I leaned in real close.
Where are the photos?
It's currently 10:15 pm EST on a school night. I have a grand total of zero photos to attatch until sometime later this week (if I don't supply you can also punch me). Also, they're all currently in one test tube—now, now, hold your horses. "Lasius neoniger isn't polygynous! Lasius neoniger isn't—" I know that, shhh, shhh... I'm hoping that they don't kill each other over night and then I'll steal more test tubes from my high school and use those because I hate spending my own money and all property is public and to be shared with the people or whatever that guy said. I'm the people in this scenario. Is it morally okay to keep them in that mediocre, old AntsCanada test tube overnight? Ehh... Fingers crossed my science teacher is chill about it.
Something, something, 12 is a lot of queens.
I think it is. It's been too long so I don't know how many queens people are keeping these days. I'm not really gonna risk it and I'm going to separate them ASAP (see above), and I don't know how I'm going to differentiate them. I was between being really nonchalant and just naming the colonies 1-12, and then doing what every good ant YouTuber does and give them really cool names, but I mulled it over and, do I really want to be made fun of on Discord about this? Probably, yes. I had it coming either way, being made fun of is my natural state of being. I was thinking naming the queens after either A. commedia dell'arte characters (Arlecchino, Pantalone, Il Dottore), B. talchum characters (Yangban, Seonbi, Choraengi), C. something else entirely. I'm open to suggestions (so long as it isn't stupid or brainrot), but my brain works better when I connect a name to something, so I kind want to name these colonies so I don't immediately forget which is which.
There also might be a chance I get more in the upcoming week/parasitic Lasius, so stay tuned for that (I found L. latipes a few days ago but lost her, I was devastated...). In that scenario, I change this topic to be every species under the genus.
That's it. Sorry if this is a mess, the only thing I've consumed in the past 12 hours is the Monster I'm currently drinking. I'll post photos of them at a later date, I just know if I don't make this topic now, I never will (I'm procrasination-maxxing). Someone reply to this telling me to lock in and send photos, I will, I promise. I am super busy right now, but I'll find time. What sucks about this species is that I won't have an update of substancial information until 2026. Oh well.
Thank's for reading.
"Engraved in stone long ago, Lost in the shifting sand, In the midst of a crumbling world, The vision of one flower."
- Tamiki Hara
