I’m very excited, because today I found a Lasius fuliginosus queen wandering about just outside my window. This is probably one of the most beautiful ants we have in Denmark. It’s very shiny black, and therefore also called the “shining black ant”. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any pictures as of yet, but that’ll come soon.
The reason why I’m excited is that this ant is not that common in this part of the country. I’ve only actually seen one single nest in this area, and it is very close to where I live. I’ve kept the knowledge of the nest a secret. This ant is very special in many ways. For instance, it grows a special fungus that only exists in the nest of this ant. The fungus is not used for food but instead as reinforcement of the very thin carton nest walls. Also, this ant smells very nice like oranges or lemons. To ants however, this is a very “foul” smell that scares off much bigger ants.
I really really hope this queen will make it. She founds her colony the parasitic way, but unfortunately her preferred host species is not that easy found either. I don’t know any nests where I could get host species, so I’ll get some workers from the nearby Lasius fuliginosus nest and hope they will help the queen found a new colony. Lasius fuliginosus is actually “hyper parasitic”, meaning that she prefer hosts that found parasitic themselves. This means, that three different species often is found in a Lasius fuliginosus nest: The original species, the parasitic species, and the hyper parasitic species Lasius fuliginosus itself.
More to come very soon!
The reason why I’m excited is that this ant is not that common in this part of the country. I’ve only actually seen one single nest in this area, and it is very close to where I live. I’ve kept the knowledge of the nest a secret. This ant is very special in many ways. For instance, it grows a special fungus that only exists in the nest of this ant. The fungus is not used for food but instead as reinforcement of the very thin carton nest walls. Also, this ant smells very nice like oranges or lemons. To ants however, this is a very “foul” smell that scares off much bigger ants.
I really really hope this queen will make it. She founds her colony the parasitic way, but unfortunately her preferred host species is not that easy found either. I don’t know any nests where I could get host species, so I’ll get some workers from the nearby Lasius fuliginosus nest and hope they will help the queen found a new colony. Lasius fuliginosus is actually “hyper parasitic”, meaning that she prefer hosts that found parasitic themselves. This means, that three different species often is found in a Lasius fuliginosus nest: The original species, the parasitic species, and the hyper parasitic species Lasius fuliginosus itself.
More to come very soon!
