
During Formica season, I caught this queen, but I can’t determine what species it is. The queen resembles the quarantined Formica but has a black gaster, and instead of brown nanitics, these are black. The queen was found sometime in July and quickly got to work raising nanitics. Fast forward roughly seven weeks, and the first nanitic arrived. Today there are five nanitics, but no eggs have been laid since. The queen will probably lay new eggs in spring.