''Lasius'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of formicine

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

s. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

for this genus is the black garden ant, ''

Lasius niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesheathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

, are the cornfield ant, '' L. neoniger'', and '' L. alienus''. Other species include the temporary social parasites of the ''L. mixtus'' group and the hyper-social parasite '' Lasius fuliginosus''. '' Lasius flavus'' is also a commonly seen species, building grassy hillocks in undisturbed pasture. In the Alps, these mounds - always aligned east to catch the first rays of the rising sun - have been traditionally used by goatherds as natural

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

es. Species in the subgenus ''Acanthomyops'', in particular '' L. interjectus'' and '' L. claviger'', are commonly known as citronella ants due to their citronella-like smell.

Moisture ants

Many ''Lasius'' species, known collectively as "moisture ants" in the United States, make their nests in and around moist rotting wood as well as under rocks. They can infest buildings, particularly foundation forms in contact with soil, becoming a minor nuisance. They are not considered a structural threat because they only make their galleries in wood that is already decayed. Some species build "cartonlike" nests in moist locations made of decayed wood fragments cemented together with honeydew and the ant's mandibular gland secretions. Workers are monomorphic, 2 to 3 mm long, yellow to dark brown. They are secretive, and forage mostly at night for honeydew and other sweet substances, and may also prey on small insects. Winged reproductive males and females swarm in late summer and fall, which is when building infestations may be noticed. They are distinguished from

carpenter ant Carpenter ants (''Camponotus'' spp.) are large () ants indigenous to many forested parts of the world. They build nests inside wood consisting of galleries chewed out with their mandibles or jaws, preferably in dead, damp wood. However, unl ...

s (''Camponotus''), another structure-infesting species, by being much smaller, and having a notch in the dorsal thorax (top of the center body division), where carpenter ants have a rounded thorax. Widespread moisture ant species include ''L. alienus'' and ''L. neoniger'', as well as some ''Acanthomyops'' species.

Species

*'' Lasius alienoflavus'' Bingham, 1903 *''

Lasius alienus ''Lasius alienus'', or cornfield ant, is a species of ant in the subfamily Formicinae (family Formicidae). Workers have a length of about 2–4 mm, Queens are larger (7–9 mm). Distribution They live in Europe, from Spain to the Cauca ...

'' (Foerster, 1850) *'' Lasius americanus'' Emery 1893 *†'' Lasius anthracinus'' (Heer, 1867) *'' Lasius aphidicola'' (Walsh, 1863) *'' Lasius arizonicus'' Wheeler, 1917 *'' Lasius atopus'' Cole, 1958 *'' Lasius austriacus'' Schlick-Steiner, Steiner, Schödl & Seifert, 2003 *'' Lasius balcanicus'' Seifert, 1988 *'' Lasius balearicus'' Talavera, Espadaler & Vila, 2014 *'' Lasius bicornis'' (Foerster, 1850) *'' Lasius bombycina'' Seifert & Galkowski, 2016 *'' Lasius brevicornis'' Emery 1893 *'' Lasius brevipalpus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius brunneus'' (Latreille, 1798) *'' Lasius buccatus'' Stärcke, 1942 *'' Lasius bureni'' (Wing, 1968) *'' Lasius californicus'' Wheeler, 1917 *'' Lasius capitatus'' (Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927) *'' Lasius carniolicus'' Mayr, 1861 *'' Lasius casevitzi'' Seifert & Galkowski, 2016 *†'' Lasius chambonensis'' Piton & Théobald, 1935 *'' Lasius chinensis'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius cinereus'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius citrinus'' Emery, 1922 *'' Lasius claviger'' (Roger, 1862) *''

Lasius colei ''Lasius colei'' is a species of ant belonging to the genus '' Lasius'', formerly a part of the genus (now a subgenus) '' Acanthomyops''. Described in 1968 by Wing, the species is native to the United States The United States of Americ ...

'' (Wing, 1968) *'' Lasius coloradensis'' Wheeler, 1917 *'' Lasius coloratus'' Santschi, 1937 *'' Lasius creightoni'' (Wing, 1968) *'' Lasius creticus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius crinitus'' (Smith, 1858) *†'' Lasius crispus'' Wilson, 1955 *'' Lasius crypticus'' Wilson, 1955 *'' Lasius distinguendus'' (Emery, 1916) *'' Lasius draco'' Collingwood, 1982 *'' Lasius elevatus'' Bharti & Gul, 2013 *'' Lasius emarginatus'' (Olivier, 1792) *†'' Lasius epicentrus'' Théobald, 1937 *'' Lasius escamole'' Reza, 1925 *'' Lasius excavatus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius fallax'' Wilson, 1955 *'' Lasius flavescens'' Forel, 1904 *'' Lasius flavoniger'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius flavus'' (Fabricius, 1782) *'' Lasius fuji'' Radchenko, 2005 *'' Lasius fuliginosus'' (Latreille, 1798) *†'' Lasius globularis'' (Heer, 1849) *†'' Lasius glom'' LaPolla & Greenwalt, 2015 *'' Lasius grandis'' Forel, 1909 *'' Lasius hayashi'' Yamauchi & Hayashida, 1970 *'' Lasius hikosanus'' Yamauchi, 1979 *'' Lasius himalayanus'' Bingham, 1903 *'' Lasius hirsutus'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius humilis'' Wheeler, 1917 *'' Lasius illyricus'' Zimmermann, 1935 *†'' Lasius inflatus'' (Zhang, 1989) *'' Lasius interjectus'' Mayr, 1866 *'' Lasius israelicus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius japonicus'' Santschi, 1941 *'' Lasius jensi'' Seifert, 1982 *'' Lasius kabaki'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius karpinisi'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius koreanus'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius kritikos'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius lasioides'' (Emery, 1869) *'' Lasius latipes'' (Walsh, 1863) *'' Lasius lawarai'' Seifert, 1992 *†'' Lasius longaevus'' (Heer, 1849) *'' Lasius longiceps'' Seifert, 1988 *'' Lasius longicirrus'' Chang & He, 2002 *'' Lasius longipalpus'' Seifert, 2020 *†'' Lasius longipennis'' (Heer, 1849) *'' Lasius magnus'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius maltaeus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius mauretanicus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius meridionalis'' (Bondroit, 1920) *'' Lasius mexicanus'' Wheeler, 1914 *'' Lasius mikir'' Collingwood, 1982 *'' Lasius minutus'' Emery, 1893 *'' Lasius mixtus'' (Nylander, 1846) *†'' Lasius mordicus'' Zhang, 1989 *'' Lasius morisitai'' Yamauchi, 1979 *'' Lasius murphyi'' Forel, 1901 *'' Lasius myops'' Forel, 1894 *'' Lasius myrmidon'' Mei, 1998 *'' Lasius nearcticus'' Wheeler, 1906 *'' Lasius neglectus'' Van Loon, Boomsma & Andrasfalvy, 1990 *†'' Lasius nemorivagus'' Wheeler, 1915 *'' Lasius neoniger'' Emery, 1893 *'' Lasius nevadensis'' Cole, 1956 *''

Lasius niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesLasius nigrescens'' Stitz, 1930 *'' Lasius nipponensis'' Forel, 1912 *'' Lasius nitidigaster'' Seifert, 1996 *†'' Lasius oblongus'' Assmann, 1870 *'' Lasius obscuratus'' Stitz, 1930 *'' Lasius occidentalis'' Wheeler, 1909 *†'' Lasius occultatus'' (Heer, 1849) *†'' Lasius ophthalmicus'' (Heer, 1849) *'' Lasius orientalis'' Karavaiev, 1912 *'' Lasius pallitarsis'' (Provancher, 1881) *'' Lasius paralienus'' Seifert, 1992 *†'' Lasius peritulus'' (Cockerell, 1927) *'' Lasius persicus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius piliferus'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius platythorax'' Seifert, 1991 *'' Lasius plumopilosus'' Buren, 1941 *'' Lasius pogonogynus'' Buren, 1950 *'' Lasius precursor'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius productus'' Wilson, 1955 *'' Lasius przewalskii'' Ruzsky, 1915 *'' Lasius psammophilus'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius pubescens'' Buren, 1942 *†'' Lasius pumilus'' Mayr, 1868 *†'' Lasius punctulatus'' Mayr, 1868 *'' Lasius rabaudi'' (Bondroit, 1917) *'' Lasius reginae'' Faber, 1967 *'' Lasius sabularum'' (Bondroit, 1918) *'' Lasius sakagamii'' Yamauchi & Hayashida, 1970 *'' Lasius schaeferi'' Seifert, 1992 *†'' Lasius schiefferdeckeri'' Mayr, 1868 *'' Lasius schulzi'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius sichuense'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius silvaticus'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius sitiens'' Wilson, 1955 *'' Lasius sonobei'' Yamauchi, 1979 *'' Lasius spathepus'' Wheeler, 1910 *'' Lasius speculiventris'' Emery, 1893 *'' Lasius subglaber'' Emery, 1893 *'' Lasius subumbratus'' Viereck, 1903 *'' Lasius talpa'' Wilson, 1955 *'' Lasius tapinomoides'' Salata & Borowiec, 2018 *'' Lasius tebessae'' Seifert, 1992 *†'' Lasius tertiarius'' Zalessky, 1949 *'' Lasius tibialis'' Santschi, 1936 *†'' Lasius truncatus'' Zhang, 1989 *'' Lasius tunisius'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius turcicus'' Santschi, 1921 *'' Lasius umbratus'' (Nylander, 1846) *'' Lasius uzbeki'' Seifert, 1992 *†'' Lasius validus'' Zhang, 1989 *'' Lasius vestitus'' Wheeler, 1910 *†'' Lasius vetulus'' Dlussky, 1981 *'' Lasius viehmeyeri'' Emery, 1922 *'' Lasius vostochni'' Seifert, 2020 *'' Lasius wittmeri'' Seifert, 1992 *'' Lasius xerophilus'' MacKay & MacKay, 1994

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1157048 Ant genera Extant Eocene first appearances