4 replies to this topic

[Tetramorium]

Are Lasius neoniger colonies mostly located on the surface or are they pretty deep? I look forward to hearing the community's thoughts. 

[Mads]

You are better off to wait for the mating flights to get a queen. Digging up an established colony of neoniger, or any Lasius really for that matter, is rather difficult. The queens rarely hang out near the surface, they tend to stay deep. Finding one after a flight is really easy, in fact, you can't really miss them. Last year, for example, my son and I found a few dozen in a few minutes, they were everywhere. They seem to just have one huge flight every year, rather than a number of them spread out over a period of time.

 

Mads

[Crystals]

After the first 20 workers eclose, they dig deep and dig fast.  I occasionally find a founding queen, sometimes with 3-5 workers, but after that they dig deep.

I tried digging up a few small colonies in a gravel pit before the machinery started rolling, and I was not successful with any of the Lasius colonies.

[Tetramorium]

I simply need to obtain some brood for my parasitic Lasius umbratus queen. Do you think this is possible? 

[Mads]

That should be quite simple, just flip over rocks or boards laying on the ground, they generally have some brood there warming up. Finding the queen is the difficult part, finding some brood is usually no issue at all.

 

Mads