[5] Disparities between local weather conditions can cause nuptial flights to be out of phase amongst widespread populations of L. niger.

During long-lasting, hot summers, flights can take place simultaneously across the country, but overcast weather with local patches of sunshine results in a far less synchronized emergence of alates.

Once the queens have mated they will land and discard their wings and begin to find a suitable place to dig a tunnel.

After removing her wings, a queen will move quickly to find moist ground, then start digging a tunnel.

Until the eggs hatch and the larvae grow to maturity, a Lasius niger queen will not eat, relying on the protein of her wing muscles to be broken down and digested.

Lasius niger lay tiny, white, kidney-shaped eggs with a smooth sticky surface which helps them to be carried in a group instead of one by one.

This is a critical time for the colony as they need to gather food quickly to support future growth and particularly to feed the starved queen, who would have lost around 50% of her body weight.

[6] Different communities within the colony are segregated by a limited number of connective nodes, allowing for greater protection of vulnerable hive members, such as larvae and pupae, and the queen.

[3] Understanding the basis for the greater longevity of queens has a bearing on the general unsolved problem in biology of the causes of aging.

Lasius niger removes predators such as ladybirds from the vicinity of black bean aphid thus keeping their "milch cows" safe.

[10] Once the eggs hatch, the ants chaperone the larvae, averting the attacks of predatory organisms like wasps and spiders as well as parasites.

In return, the ants receive a saccharine secretion fortified with amino acids from an eversible gland on the larvae's back.