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Pavement Ant - Tetramorium caespitum

Size: 1/10 to 1/8 inch (2-3mm)

Color: Brown to black

Description: The pavement ant is a small, brown to black ant with pale legs and a black abdomen. Pavement ants feed on a variety of materials, including live and dead insects, honeydew from aphids, meats, grease, etc. They often enter houses looking for food. They may become numerous in a short period of time in a kitchen or outside on a patio.

Habitat: Pavement ants are very common in the eastern United States. These small, brown to black ants usually nest under stones, concrete slabs, at the edge of pavements, and in houses in crevices in woodwork and masonry.

Life Cycle: New ant colonies are started by a single queen that lays the eggs and tends the brood that develops into worker ants. Tending of the brood is then taken over by the workers, which shift the brood from place to place as moisture and temperature fluctuate in the nest. When workers forage for food for the queen and her young, they often enter houses and become a nuisance.

Type Of Damage: They feed on animal food, grease, seeds, etc.

Control: The nests are often difficult to locate, so control is usually aimed at individual ants or groups of ants. Most successful is the use of baiting techniques.

Interesting Facts: Ants feed on almost anything consumed by humans.

Importance: May carry disease organisms. contamination of food and sterile materials. Can penetrate packaging due to small size. Ability to travel through ducting and building structure means infestations can become very widespread.
 

Carpenter Ants - Camponotus

Description: Some species of carpenter ants are the largest ants in the north central states. They are black, or red and black; workers range in size from 3/16 to 1/2 inch. Colonies consist of major and minor workers. Carpenter ants have the following characteristics: 1) petiole with one node and 2) a thorax with an evenly rounded upper surface (workers only) [compare with field ants].

Foods: Other insects, both living and dead. They also feed on meats or sweets, including honeydew, syrup, honey, sugar, and jelly. Carpenter ants DO NOT eat wood; they chew wood into sawdust in the process of creating galleries and tunnels.

Carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Nesting Sites: All types of moist or rotting wood, including trees or tree stumps, indoors behind bathroom tiles; around tubs, sinks, showers, and dishwashers; under roofing, in attic beams, and under subfloor insulation; in hollow spaces such as doors, curtain rods, and wall voids; and in soft polystyrene and other forms of insulation. Carpenter ant tunnels are clean and smooth, making the wood appear that it has been sandpapered. In contrast, termite tunnels are not clean looking, but are packed with dirt like material.

Mating Swarms: April through June. Occasionally swarms may emerge indoors earlier during late winter on warm, sunny days.

Carpenter ant, Camponotus nearcticus

Management: The best treatment is to apply an insecticide directly into the nest. It is also important to replace damaged or decayed wood, and if possible to eliminate any moisture problems. Baits may also be effective if applied where ant activity is seen.

Argentine Ant - Iridomyrmex Humilis

The workers of the Argentine ant are slightly larger than the Pharaoh's ant worker (around 2.5mm) and are usually a uniform dull or slightly shiny brown.

The noticeable waist of this species, consists of only a single slight bulge compared with the two bulges of the pharaoh's ant.

This is another tropical species, only succesfully infesting heated buildings during winter. It is not as common as Pharaoh's ant, but in most other respects the biology and habits of this species are similar. Nests of Argentine ants may contain a number of queens. The queens will frequently wander some distance from their home nest and may then set up new colonies nearby. These new colonies may become inter-mixed with the original colony, with no apparent aggression.