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Post by Antkeeper on Jun 8, 2015 18:57:37 GMT
This year in my garden, I am finding many Lasius flavus workers foraging above ground, even in the day time. Is this normal? I never seen so many before. I have 2-3 mounds in the lawn where their nests are located. Or am I being silly and forgetting it could be Lasius umbratus? They can be found in London I am guessing? I am 95% sure they are Lasius flavus, but I'll try to get a photo for you guys. The only thing I can think of is their subterranean supply of food is too low?!  |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jun 8, 2015 19:03:44 GMT
While being mainly a subterranean ant, L. flavus will forage above ground but avoid coming out in very strong sunlight, except when their nuptial flights are on; but even then the workers rush back into the nest after a short foray on the surface.
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Post by chicken2012 on Jun 8, 2015 19:46:33 GMT
I noticed a couple earlier today, and also yesterday, in bright sunlight in the middle of the day.
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Post by Antkeeper on Jun 10, 2015 18:48:28 GMT
I noticed a couple earlier today, and also yesterday, in bright sunlight in the middle of the day. Not just me then!! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2015 17:25:20 GMT
Could it be that they are not Lasius flavus but, for example, Lasius umbratus, which look almost identical and are much more active above ground than flavus are.
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Post by Honeydewman on Jun 28, 2015 9:26:06 GMT
My Son was fishing and noticed L.Flavus out in numbers where he had discarded dead/used maggots. He then took a few maggots and opened them up with some casters putting them next to the area where the Flavus were feeding and in minutes large numbers of Flavus came out to feed.
I can only assume that the unusually cold weather this year has limited their underground resources and forced them above ground.
Amazing thing was that local Nigers kept well away.
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Post by chicken2012 on Jul 2, 2015 18:41:29 GMT
Could it be that they are not Lasius flavus but, for example, Lasius umbratus, which look almost identical and are much more active above ground than flavus are. I don't think so in my case as I have collected queens from the nest that the workers came from, and they have raised workers, which I gather umbratus would not do, as they are parasitic ants? |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2015 20:43:34 GMT
I have a wild colony of Lasius Flavus were I work and they can often be seen above ground,Only in tiny numbers and I do worry as they are very close to a Lasius niger and a Myrmica rubra nest.Perhaps they are above ground due to resources in the area being split three ways  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2015 10:05:49 GMT
Could it be that they are not Lasius flavus but, for example, Lasius umbratus, which look almost identical and are much more active above ground than flavus are. I don't think so in my case as I have collected queens from the nest that the workers came from, and they have raised workers, which I gather umbratus would not do, as they are parasitic ants?
If umbratus do not raise workers, how do you explain that when I first got my umbratus 6 years ago the colony consisted of one umbratus queen and about 30 niger workers. Today there are no niger workers and approximately 300 umbratus workers with as many umbratus brood?
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Post by chicken2012 on Jul 3, 2015 10:12:56 GMT
I don't think so in my case as I have collected queens from the nest that the workers came from, and they have raised workers, which I gather umbratus would not do, as they are parasitic ants?
If umbratus do not raise workers, how do you explain that when I first got my umbratus 6 years ago the colony consisted of one umbratus queen and about 30 niger workers. Today there are no niger workers and approximately 300 umbratus workers with as many umbratus brood?
I mean as first workers without the aid of Lasius niger. So when you got your colony you also had some Lasius niger workers too, which were in effect almost like slave workers, which I thought that parasitic queens require when they first found their own colony. And I was saying that my queens had no Lasius niger workers to start with and founded their colonies from scratch. I hope I have explained myself a little clearer now. |
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Post by Wood~Ant on Jul 3, 2015 11:14:29 GMT
I think it is fair to say that with L. flavus it is extremely rare to find them foraging above ground during the day, unlike related yellow ant species such as Lasius mixtus and Lasius umbratus which both forage above ground on a regular basis the same as Lasius niger and closely related species do during the warmer months of the year. |
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