Greetings everyone welcome to another Ants Canada video
Alright so it's July and this is the time of the year when the most
species of plants are having their nuptial flights in North America and a lot of Europe so for those of you who feel like you're
Too late in catching a queen ant this year to start your pet and colonies you're wrong the fun has actually just begun
So in light of this I've been getting a lot of emails lately asking me to identify
Queen ants that some of you might have caught and it seems some still may be having troubles trying to identify
Whether an ant that you caught is a queen or not, so I hope that when you finish watching this video
you'll have a better idea of what a queen ant looks like and how to distinguish it from other workers and male ants and
Also for those of you who caught a queen ant the season and aren't sure what kind of ant she is
stay tuned until the end of this video because I will list some of the most commonly kept and found ends by genus around the
World and show you exactly what the queens look like and perhaps you just might spot your ant in the list
So let's get to it guys this week's episode of the Ants Canada and channel is our re-tutorial on how to identify queen ants
Now there are several ways to tell if an ant is a queen or not, but I'll start with the easiest way
Queens are larger than workers and male ants. Seems simple, I know and I think everyone knows this
However sometimes using size alone can be tricky for example take a look at this photo
do you see a Queen ant in this photo if
You answer yes, and we're looking at this ant
Don't worry. You're not alone. There are many out there who would say that this is a queen based on its size
Truth is, this is a worker so you see in order to identify a queen in some cases
We may need more than just size to go on so let's proceed then with other clues
when looking to see if an ant is a queen the first place to look is the ant's Thorax or
The technical term is the Mesosoma
Get used to that term. I'll be using it a lot in this video
now when I catch a strange
Ant that I've never seen before and I can't tell if it's a queen or not the first place
I look is her Mesosoma
And particularly, her wing scars
You see queen ants are born with wings which they used during nuptial flight then after they mate these Queens break off their wings
Leaving some very prominent wing scars
So if an ant that you catch has wing scars on her Mesosoma, you know for sure. She's a queen as for male ants
They also have wings but they keep their wings and die directly after mating so in nearly all cases
you won't see wing scars on a living male ant
You'll only see them on Queen ants
Another thing about male ants by the way is male ants look completely different from Queen ants
They usually don't even look like ants at all. They look more like skinny wasps they have tiny heads and large eyes
sometimes examining for wing scars can be a challenge
So another clue in the Mesosoma region (area) of the ant that shows you it's a queen is the size of the mesosoma
and number of parts take a look at this photo from alexanderwild.com
It shows a Queen ant and a worker ant. In this species the difference is a little more subtle.
But with a closer inspection of the queen you'll see her mesosoma
parts you can see her prothorax here in blue her mesothorax in yellow
the Metathorax in Red and her propodeum in Green and
Here are the corresponding parts in the worker end
Now comparing the two you'll notice that the queen's mesosoma is larger and has more parts the queen's
Mesothorax the Yellow part and
Metathorax the red are areas which housed the queen's wing muscles and are therefore much larger than those of the worker
When I look at it, I find the mesothorax forms a sort of plateau like structure in Queens
Which is lacking in the worker ants
So when I look to see if an ant I caught is a queen, and I can't readily notice any wing scars
I look for this sort of plateau like or dome-shaped structure housing the queen Ant’s wing muscles
Alright, so now that you know this let's do another test
Which of these two large ants in the picture is a queen?
And which is just a major worker?
if you answer the ant on the right, congratulations!
You got a right! You can clearly see that plateau the dome-shaped, Mesothorax.
If you got it wrong don't worry about it too much, you'll get the hang of it
the more you get used to seeing queen ants. Other clues that point to queens especially in Formocine ants are large Gasters
Lasius, Formica, Camponotus Queens are unmistakable
They have large Gasters in relation to the rest of their body Myrmicine ants like Myrmica
Pogonomyrmex and Aphaenogaster tend to be a bit trickier to Id based on just Gaster to body size ratio
So to Id if Myrmicine ants are queens you mainly have to go by body size compared to workers and their mesosoma
So to recap them queens are larger than workers and males have wing scars
Don't look like Wasps with small heads and big eyes have large Mesosomas' with that
dome-shaped area and tend to have large Gasters.
Alright, so here are some of the commonly found ants in North-America and Europe.
Hopefully for those of you who have a queen ant now and aren't sure what type event she is
This section of the video may help you
So let's start with a photo of what a Tetramorium queen looks like. This is a Lasius Queen, the Camponotus Queen
Formica
Solenopsis, Aphaenogaster
Brachymyrmex (manho)
Cephalotes, Crematogaster, Prenolepis,
Linepithema,
Monomorium,
Myrmica,
Novomessor, Pogonomyrmex
Pheidole,
Tapinoma,
Myrmecocystus,
and Ponera. Now Let's move on to the tropics
Acromyrmex, Atta,
Odontomachus,
Polyrachis,
Oecophylla,
Myrmecia and Paratrechina
Okay, thanks so much for watching this video. Hope it helps you out this season in catching your queen ends
If you like this video, please do subscribe like share and leave me a comment
I love to hear from you guys and visit us at ncAa.com for all your and keeping needs
oh and don't forget if you have extra queens that give rise to colonies that become too much for you to care for
Visit our again project section under queen ants for sale on our website
And we can help you sell those colonies off or give them away to Aunt Lavinia City or region
Good luck catching those queens guys stay tuned for next week's video and yes
We now upload a new ant video every Monday. It's that love forever. Bye
Thanks so much for watching our video
It really meant a lot to me don't forget to subscribe to our channel if you liked this video
We upLoad once a week be sure to check out our ant tutorial playlist
And if you like watching ants and large colonies do check out our Solenopsis geminid a playlist
Finally be sure to visit our website antscanada.com we've got tons of great information there.
We've got a fantastic forum and by the way we're looking for moderators
so be sure to email me if you have some moderating experience and
We've got some great Pro
Ant farms available for you to choose from that are easy to use and help you grow super big and healthy.
Also thank you so much to Alex Wild from alexanderwild.com for allowing us to use his photos in this video and in other ends
Canada videos, be sure to check out his amazing photography. Take care! It's ant love forever. Bye. Bye