24 November 2023
Hello ant fans.
The second half of this year has been very busy for me, including having to undergo surgery, which went well, but I was very ill with an unpleasant side effect of the general anaesthetic, and from which I am still suffering. Not too much to say about my ant colonies, but they continue to do well.
Myrmica rubra
I was quite surprised to see two wingless queen ants in the foraging arena last month. This colony only has one egg-laying queen, the others present being winged queens left over from this year’s sexual brood.
Ants rarely, if at all, mate with their own brothers and sisters, and therefore I assume that these two queens are unmated, but for some reason have removed, or had their wings removed for them. Workers often bite on the wings of the flying ants who remain in the nest – which they later kill. One of these queens was visibly larger than the other.
At first I assumed the larger of the two was the colony queen, but on looking inside the nest I could see her being attended to by her worker force. It’ll be interesting to see what becomes of these two.
Lasius niger
This colony continues to do well and has grown somewhat. However, due to my being away from home a lot over the past few moths, them, and their rubra friends, have not been fed as much as I would like. They are preparing for hibernation now, but 2024 should be a better year for both colonies.
Best Ants UK
I have added a new UK based ant seller/supplier to my Links page. BestAntsUK approached me this week and asked if I could advertise their services. It looks very nice, though I have had no personal experience with them. If you do use them, please feel free to let me know how you got on.
I have only recently come across your website as I went down the usual rabbit hole of sites whilst studying arachnids with the FSC. I hope you are doing well and are well on the way to being fully mended.
I have Lasius niger and Lasius flavus both in my small garden with nests within 4ft of each other. Are they likley to battle each other or is there a coexistance possible?
Kind regards
Andrew
Hello Andrew, and thank you for your comment.
Whether the ants will live in harmony or fight it out really depends on various factors, including the availability of food.
As a kid I used to have niger and flavus colonies in close proximity and I never recall them fighting, unless, of course, it was all kicking off underground.
Fortunately Lasius flavus generally forage underground, rarely breaching the surface. Therefore unless one colony expands into the other below the surface during, nest expansion, all should be well.