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Lasius
Lasius
| 1a. | Large eyes (eye length > 0.20× head width), golden-brown | 2 |
| 1b. | Small eyes (eye length < 0.17× head width), subterranean, yellow-brown ants | 4 |
| 2a. | First tooth of mandible offset (and smaller) from the others; forest habitat | L. pallitarsis |
| 2b. | First tooth of mandible aligned with the rest of the teeth | 3 |
| 3a. | Open habitats; erect hairs on scape (usually) or tibia (always) | L. neoniger |
| 3b. | Forest habitats; no erect hairs on scape or tibia | L. alienus |
| 4a. | Eyes with < 35 omatidia | 5 |
| 4b. | Eyes with > 35 omatidia | 6 |
| 5a. | Open habitat; terminal segment of maxillary palp shorter than penultimate segment | L. flavus |
| 5b. | Forests; terminal segment of maxillary palp longer than penultimate segment | L. nearcticus |
| 6a. | Second gastric tergite lacking pubsecence and with few hairs; shiny; forests | L. speculiventris |
| 6b. | Second gastric tergite with some pubscence; open habitats | 7 |
| 7a. | Longest hairs of the first gastric tergite < 0.5×width of the hind tibia at its midpoint; moistdisturbed and young-successional areas | L. umbratus |
| 7b. | Longest hairs of the first gastric tergite > 0.6× width of the hind tibia; open habitats, especially bogs, fens and sedge meadows; very small | L. minutus |
Reference: Wilson, E.O. 1955. A monographic revision of the ant genus Lasius. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College 113: 1-201.
