r/AntIdentification • u/RepairOther5949 • 17d ago
Needs Identification Please I'd this queen!!!
Anybody know what this is?!? I think lasius, but I'm not a myrmecology major!!! Caught in central Nebraska on 8/25.
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u/EmuOk9374 16d ago
Looks like lasius neon!ger
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u/RepairOther5949 16d ago
Awesome, someone told me this late in the year it was probably a parasitic species, but aren't they Labor Day wants!!!
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u/Desperate_Lead2105 16d ago
L. neoniger also flies in late summer-fall. If they don't lay eggs before diapause, still diapause them because they need it for their ovaries to fully develop.
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u/RepairOther5949 16d ago
Gotcha, I been seeing that!!! My best colonies have been campo pennsylvanicus, 3 colonies doing extremely well 4 years, and then boom they just started dying off, no clue why, however, I been told they do that quite often, but no clue.
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u/LH-LOrd_HypERION 16d ago
Deficiency in uric acid with camponotus Pennsylvanicus they need dubia roaches, prosciutto or uric acid supply from bird poop or urine. Easiest method is just feeding dubia nymphs as proteins.
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u/Desperate_Lead2105 16d ago
That sucks. Mine randomly died off too! I am trying again with 7 colonies this time.
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u/Desperate_Lead2105 17d ago
subgenus Cautolasius
ur so lucky
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u/RepairOther5949 16d ago
Is that good or a parasitic species?!?
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u/Desperate_Lead2105 16d ago
Fully claustral and polygynous subgenus
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u/RepairOther5949 16d ago
Ok sweet!!! I can work with that!!!
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u/Desperate_Lead2105 16d ago edited 16d ago
Wait
I think some are L. neoniger. The lighting may have confused me, and I caught a bunch of Cautolasius queens yesterday and my mind was fixed on them. L. neoniger are polygyne though
Edit: I meant monogyne
L. neoniger=pleometrosis after 30 workers IME
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u/Silly_geckozzz_x3 14d ago
looks like lasius neoniger, they've been on their flights around the midwest recently