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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 15:25:22 GMT
There is currently a Lasius niger flight down here. I'm going to see if I can get me a queen or two. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 15:36:03 GMT
Update. I now have two newly mated L.niger queens, and I'll try and get another if I can find the last test tube.  There's mainly winged queens out there with some occasional mated ones, I saw some drones too. |
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Post by Jenny on Jun 27, 2011 15:45:16 GMT
The same here it is so humid, nigers flying everywhere. The flavus are at the surface and working on it, maybe in another hour  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 15:46:02 GMT
Found and cleaned the last test tube, added some damp cotton. Queen three was there just as I went outside.
That's my haul for this year. If anyone else has a nuptial flight right now, do post your catches here. ;D
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 15:58:30 GMT
No flights here at the moment. It seemed to come close to it but in the end it never happened  It can't be too long until they occur over there. Or maybe someone will send you one eventually? On further thoughts, I caught one final queen- Queen Four. I'm pairing her with Queen 3 as a experiment. I'm aware that the stronger one will emerge victorious once the first workers are born, but I would like to observe how they work together during the claustral stage. Queen One and Queen Two are both single, and I'll let one or both of them go once they get about 10 workers each. |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 16:22:26 GMT
Okay, all queens have stopped running around now. They are kept in the same dark cupboard that the other ants live in. I'll start a journal on the 2011 queens once they've laid eggs, which will probably be in about two or three days.  |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 27, 2011 16:23:27 GMT
While the flavus nests are still working on it, many of our local niger nests have sent out loads of queens today as these photos taken by Jenant show  |
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 16:26:33 GMT
Those are amazing photos. You should put them on your website. L.niger alates are still flying. It's such a shame that I don't get Myrmica around here, I wouldn't mind trying to keep a pair of them.  I thought my Mum was joking when she came in and told me of the alates. Something tells me that the forum will soon be even more active with new queens being caught.  If only I'd gone to the Queen Elizabeth country park today instead of yesterday! I could have caught a Myrmica queen, or even a Formica fusca one. |
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Post by Jenny on Jun 27, 2011 16:43:48 GMT
they are difficult to take, I didn't have the video to hand at the time, there is only so many times you can video flights before it gets boring. What I am really waiting for is the flavus flights, but at the moment they are just milling around thinking about it. Anything like last year we had a downpour and they were put off until the following evening. Good thing I have 2 weeks off The birds are going mad outside our front already picking up ant food 
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Post by TenebrousNova on Jun 27, 2011 17:09:19 GMT
Here's a photo of Queen Two. Unlike the other three, she is pretty calm and went into her test tube because she wanted to. Here you can see her observing me with interest as I took the photo, with flash off of course. She seemed content to sit there facing me and didn't walk away. She seems healthy, but it isn't often that I find a calm queen like her.
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 28, 2011 9:04:58 GMT
Those are amazing photos. You should put them on your website. I have added these 2 photos to my Winged Ants page, and after a bit of tweaking they are even better than the originals |
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Post by embernet on Jun 28, 2011 12:04:45 GMT
Somehow missed the swarms here in Sussex/Surrey border. Haven't seen anything! Why? |
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