Lasius alienus
DifficultyBeginner · 2/7
Species comparison
Lasius alienus vs Lasius niger
Side by side: difficulty, size, growth, climate, hibernation and nuptial flights, from the data and sources of each species sheet.
Head to head
| Lasius alienus | Fact | Lasius niger |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping | ||
| Difficulty | ||
2/7 Beginner | Difficulty | 2/7 Beginner |
| Escape risk | ||
Medium | Escape risk | Medium |
| Diet | ||
SugarInsects | Diet | SugarInsects |
| Best nests | ||
Sandwich nest · Ytong nest · Acrylic nest | Best nests | Sandwich nest · Ytong nest · Acrylic nest |
| Colony | ||
| Growth | ||
Moderate | Growth | Moderate |
| Colony size | ||
Reaches 5,000 workers | Colony size | No data yet |
| Workers | ||
2–4 mm All the same size | Workers | 3–5 mm All the same size |
| Queen | ||
7–9 mm | Queen | 8–9 mm |
| Colony founding | ||
Fully claustral One queen | Colony founding | Fully claustral One queen |
| Defense | ||
Bites · Sprays formic acid | Defense | Bites · Sprays formic acid |
| Climate | ||
| Nest temperature | ||
21–25 °C | Nest temperature | 23–25 °C |
| Nest humidity | ||
50–60 % | Nest humidity | 40–60 % |
| Hibernation | ||
5–8 °C Oct – Mar | Hibernation | 8–12 °C Oct – Mar |
| Nuptial flights | ||
Jul – Sep | Nuptial flights | Jul – Aug Hot days · Calm weather |
| Native range | ||
Europe, Middle East, Asia | Native range | Europe, Asia |
Size to scale
Lasius alienus
Workers · 2–4 mmQueen · 7–9 mmLasius niger
Workers · 3–5 mmQueen · 8–9 mm
Their year side by side
Lasius alienus : Hibernation: Oct – Mar, Nuptial flights: Jul – Sep
Lasius niger : Hibernation: Oct – Mar, Nuptial flights: Jul – Aug
Months for temperate Europe and the Mediterranean. The weather decides the exact days, so flights can come earlier or later where you live.
How to tell them apart
Lasius alienus
Small workers with a medium to dark brown body and paler, yellowish-brown antennae and lower legs; under a strong lens, the antennal scapes and the hind tibiae show no standing hairs or only a few, while Lasius niger and Lasius platythorax have many. Lasius paralienus, Lasius psammophilus and the invasive Lasius neglectus lack these hairs too, and telling them apart takes measurements of several workers under a microscope.
- Watch out Check the identification before you plan around it. Founding queens are easily mixed up with Lasius niger, and experienced forum members say this ant cannot be named from photos. Wait for normal-sized workers and look at several of them under a strong lens, since the tiny first workers carry fewer hairs. Until then, call the colony Lasius cf. alienus.
- Tip Care is much like Lasius niger: the claustral queen needs no food until her first workers hatch, then offer sugar water or honey and small insects such as fruit flies. In one German keeping report the workers carried small prey into the nest readily but visited the honey only now and then after the first weeks.
Lasius niger
Small workers that are uniformly dark brown to black with a slightly shiny body, among the commonest ants of gardens, lawns and pavements. Unlike Lasius emarginatus, there is no reddish color on the thorax.
- Tip Use a soil-based sandwich nest to watch them dig their own tunnels, or a white Ytong nest, where the black workers stand out sharply.
- Tip In the wild they milk aphids for honeydew, so they go wild for sweet food: keep honey, sugar water or ant jelly on offer and add a little protein, such as Gammarus or small insects, for the brood.
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