Lasius fuliginosus
Jet black ant
DifficultyAdvanced · 7/7
Species comparison
Lasius fuliginosus 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 fuliginosus | Fact | Lasius niger |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping | ||
| Difficulty | ||
7/7 Advanced | Difficulty | Easier2/7 Beginner |
| Escape risk | ||
High | Escape risk | LowerMedium |
| Diet | ||
SugarInsects | Diet | SugarInsects |
| Best nests | ||
Ytong nest · Wooden nest · Test tube setup | Best nests | Sandwich nest · Ytong nest · Acrylic nest |
| Colony | ||
| Growth | ||
FasterFast | Growth | Moderate |
| Colony size | ||
No data yet | Colony size | No data yet |
| Workers | ||
4–6 mm All the same size | Workers | 3–5 mm All the same size |
| Queen | ||
6–6.5 mm | Queen | 8–9 mm |
| Colony founding | ||
Social parasite One queen | Colony founding | Fully claustral One queen |
| Defense | ||
Bites · Sprays formic acid | Defense | Bites · Sprays formic acid |
| Climate | ||
| Nest temperature | ||
20–26 °C | Nest temperature | 23–25 °C |
| Nest humidity | ||
50–70 % | Nest humidity | 40–60 % |
| Hibernation | ||
5–8 °C Oct – Mar | Hibernation | 8–12 °C Oct – Mar |
| Nuptial flights | ||
May – Jul | Nuptial flights | Jul – Aug Hot days · Calm weather |
| Native range | ||
Europe, Middle East, Asia | Native range | Europe, Asia |
Size to scale
Lasius fuliginosus
Workers · 4–6 mmQueen · 6–6.5 mmLasius niger
Workers · 3–5 mmQueen · 8–9 mm
Their year side by side
Lasius fuliginosus : Hibernation: Oct – Mar, Nuptial flights: May – Jul
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 fuliginosus
Glossy jet black workers with a big, heart-shaped head that sets them apart from other black Lasius such as Lasius niger, often seen running in dense trails up trees to tend aphids. The queen is also glossy black and barely larger than a big worker, and the nest gives off a sweetish smell.
- Tip Most keepers start with an adopted queen: soon after the flight, put her with a group of young Lasius workers and plenty of cocoons. The natural host is a queenless Lasius umbratus colony. Lasius niger workers and cocoons have also worked in captivity, although niger workers are poor at opening the queen's first cocoons, which her young workers need to get out.
- Tip Give the colony wood. A Ytong nest with a chamber of crumbly rotten wood or sawdust lets the workers build their own carton walls, and they sort the brood by age, with eggs in the dampest rooms and cocoons in the driest.
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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