A genus of formicine ants is called Lasius. The black garden ant, Lasius niger, is the type species for this genus.
Distribution
The entire Holarctic region is occupied by Lasius. It extends northward to northern Scandinavia, southern Labrador, Kamchatka, the Baikal region of Siberia, and southeast Alaska. It extends southward to Madeira, North Africa, Northern Iraq, Southern Himalayas, Formosan Mountains, Central Mexican Mountains, and Northern Florida Mountains. Wherever tropical faunas are geographically nearest, such as in southeast Asia.
Diet
Traces of insects, flower nectar, honeydew (excreta), and Lycaenidae larvae
Identification
Lasuis and Acanthomyops have always had clear physical differences, but it has taken a recent molecular phylogenetic research to determine whether or not these two groupings actually belong to two different genera. The latter is widely used today to replace Lasius. It is still practical to identify Acanthomyops as a distinct species group within Lasius for identification purposes. Long maxillary palpi in nearctic species of Lasius that were originally supposed to distinguish them from Acanthomyops.
While Lasius has long, 6-segmented maxillary palpi, Acanthomyops has short, 3-segmented ones. The presence of a distinctive odour released by the mandibular glands of distressed workers is another trait of Acanthomyops that can be easily identified by field collectors using a mouth-type aspirator. This smell, which is a protection mechanism, is similar to lemon verbena or citronella oil.
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