Jet Ant - Lasius fuliginosus
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Species Description
Widespread but uncommon and local in the South. Habitat includes: wherever its host occurs in places such as gardens, parks, allotments, churchyards, hedge-banks, woodland, scrub, walls etc. Life Story: An ant with a very complex and precarious existence as it requires the presence of another ant species (Lasius umbratus group - L. flavus, Lasius mixtus, L. umbratus) which is itself a semi-social parasite on Lasius niger / L. flavus. This '3-way' existence means the chances of success for a new queen under these circumstances is extremely slim and is why its distribution is so patchy and local. Occasionally, nests may have other host workers intermixed. Workers often forage far from the nest to trees where they tend to Homoptera (aphids, scale insects, cicadas, and leafhoppers) for honeydew. The majority of their diet comes from this source and they rarely take insect prey; however, dead aphids and other insects are occasionally taken back in workers' mandibles. The nests are constructed from wood fragments cemented together with saliva and usually within the hollow of a partially rotted tree, log or stump, or other suitable cavity such as within hedge-banks and walls. Length: 4.5 - 5 mm.