Ant Hill Wood
"Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." said King Solomon.
Nuptial Flight 2009
These photos taken 25th July 2009 are of Lasius flavus virgin queens preparing for their mating flight. All 3 photos were taken by my wife. Note the way the workers shine like amber in the sun, as the only time we see this ant specie above ground during daylight hours is either when their nests are disturbed, or when they gather for a mating flight like these are doing.
Lasius flavus mating flight
My wife spotted the 2007 nuptial mating flights erupting from the ground just after a heavy thunder storm. The sun then came out and made it very hot and muggy (humid), so dashing outside with her camera in hand, Jen snapped several pictures of this activity.
Flying ants make a tasty meal for birds, and many winged ants end up in spiders webs. The predation rate is very high, so for each queen that mates successfully and founds a colony, perhaps at least another 50 die from predation. Even then for those queens that dig out a nest the success rate is low, as the failure rate for newly nesting colonies is only about 95% at best. This is why most mature well established nests send out such vast numbers of winged males and females every year, for as long as the existing queen(s) are capable of laying eggs which will produce more winged males and females.
Lasius flavus is quite a pretty looking little ant, as the workers glow a fiery golden orange when seen in strong sunlight; but at other times may appear as red or yellow depending upon the time of day and the light intensity.
A second mating flight took place on August 25th, almost a month after the first. So, with her trusty camera in her hand, my wife dashed out to take these lovely pictures, while I went to hunt for newly mated queens. Note the antennae on the winged males in straight, and lacks the typical "elbow joint" seen on the workers and females!
The Yellow Meadow Ant- L. flavus.
Here are 4 photos taken by my wife Jenny of Lasius flavus in their wild habitat.
The first picture shows a group of flavus workers crawling in the grass around their nest.
Photo 2 is a different shot of the same nest.
The 3rd photo is quite interesting, as it shows a Lasius flavus nest which is being shared by a colony of Myrmica rubra. Note the large number of larvae. The smaller larvae are flavus, while the larger belong to the M. rubra colony.
The last picture shows the underside of the nest roof stone. Both species of ant were harmoniously living together in peaceful co-existence, as they made no attempts to fight each other when they came into contact !
Lasius flavus queen+eggs.
Here are some true meadow ants, the species Lasius flavus which can be found all over Britain and much of Europe. This lovely little yellow ant spends virtually all its time underground living on soil dwelling insects, such as root aphids. This photo clearly shows a queen with eggs, and this colony is kept by Ordidomi who lives in France. My thanks to him for joining my Ant Hill World forum and allowing me the use of some of his very nice photos!!
Flavus workers + cocoons.
Though these ants are not in a wild nest; but while this colony is being kept in an artificial nest, they are still doing well. Just look at all the cocooned pupae they have, which will produce lots more worker ants for the colony and ensure its survival.
Lasius marginatus.
Here is a species of meadow ant which are not found in Britain. It is a rather attractive ant, looking a bit like a cross between a L.niger and L.flavus. Lasius are quite common and because they are not too difficult to keep, are often very adaptable when kept in an artificial nest. This photo shows worker ants with pupae.
