Lasius Umbratus is a parastic ant species that invades existing nests and takes over.
Lasius umbratus
Lasius Umbratus is a very interesting species. They are parasitic meaning they invade exciting nests and take over. They do this by killing a worker and spreading their sent throughout the colony. Then they kill the queen and take over the colony.
In the wild they nest in moist soil in open woodlands, forests and fields.
Lasius Umbratus is monogyne (meaning their can only be one egg laying queen in the colony). Colonies can grow up to 2,500-5,000 workers!
These ants have nuptial flights from July until September. A nuptial flight is a fenonamon where new ant queens (alates) fly out of the nest to meet and breed with ants from other colonies.
Workers get around 3 to 6 mm long and the queen is around 8 to 9 mm long. This species is medium size for an European species.
