The queens sneak into nests of other Lasius species like L. alienus or
L. neoniger, kill the resident queen, and use the sizeable worker force
to start raising her own brood. After a couple years, the worker force
will have completely turned over to the parasitic species. Colonies are
entirely subterranean- you will rarely ever see workers above ground-
they tend scale and aphids on plant roots. Acanthomyops ants are not
uncommon but they are patchily distributed. They also have an alarm
pheromone that smells strongly of citronella.