Lasius alienus

Workers of strangers garden ant

The stranger garden ant ( Lasius alienus ) belongs to the subfamily of ants scales ( Formicinae ) to the genus of garden ants ( Lasius ).

Features

The workers are two to four millimeters long. They are dark brown to black, fine body hair is silvery hair and protruding largely missing. The Queen is seven to nine millimeters long, the males are three to four millimeters long. The reproductives swarm from August to September.

The stranger garden ant is similar to the black garden ant ( Lasius niger), but it is smaller than this and it lacks the long body hair. Especially in the sensing shaft and on the legs, the black ant is much clearer hairy.

Distribution and habitat

The stranger Garden Ant is found throughout central Europe, and is quite common. She prefers undisturbed land and lives in barren and weakly vegetated sites that are too dry for other garden ants.

Way of life

The stranger garden ant is individual- rich, monogyne States. It feeds mainly on insects and the honeydew of the leaf, plate and root lice. Their nests they usually lays under stones at, seldom in the open field.

Swell

• Heiko Bellmann: bees, wasps, ants. Hymenoptera of Central Europe. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-440-09690-4