Ants

Pavement Ant.
Carpenter Ants
Pavement-Ants.
Pavement Ant
Argentine Ant.
Argentine Ant

Carpenter Ants

Color: red to black

Size: 5/8”

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Shape: Segmented; Oval

Found: Throughout the United States, most common in the North

Pavement Ant.
Carpenter Ants

Carpenter Ants are just what their name implies. They build their nests in wood. They do this by chewing away at the wood making tunnels to build their colonies. Carpenter Ants do not eat the wood, but do prefer things like insects, meats, fats, and sugary foods.

Carpenter Ants can cause significant damage to wood structures causing them to weaken. This is a homeowner’s worst nightmare! Their colonies grow rapidly once established, so that just means damage can happen at a rapid rate as well.

Carpenter Ants prefer moldy/damp wood to build their homes in but will adapt to drier environments. They are often associated with moisture problems.

Pavement Ants

Color: dark brown to black

Size: 1/8”

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Shape: Segmented; Oval

Found: Throughout the United States

Pavement Ants build their homes in the soil through the cracks in pavement. Sometimes this means colonies will build up underneath homes in basements. Although pavements ants do not cause much for damage, they are pesky, annoying little things that seem to be everywhere once in a home. Their colonies can build up to 3-4 thousand and contain many queens. The biggest issues with pavement ants are their appetite to eat everything in sight from breads to cheese to insects. By scrounging for food, they may cross over our food and leave their waste behind contaminating human food.

Pavement-Ants.
Pavement Ant

Argentine Ants

Color: Dark brown to a black shiny

Size: 1/16”-1/4”

Shape: Segmented, Oval

Legs: 6

Antennae: Yes

Found: Southeastern United States

Argentine Ant.
Argentine Ant

The Argentine Ant colonies are a species that have multiple Queen Ants. For every 1,000 worker ants there are 15 Queen Ants. Argentine Ants use a unique way of establishing new nests by way of budding. Budding is where a queen ant and a male ant mate within the parent nest and then leave with a few worker ants to start a new nest. The nests remain interconnected and can become massive with millions of ants that occupy the colony. Typically, these ant colonies can be found in wet areas near food sources. If their environment becomes too dry, the Argentine Ant will move on to invade buildings at large numbers. They will nest near pipes or sinks to be near moisture.

Male Argentine Ants only purpose in a colony is to reproduce with the Queen Ant. The male ants only live about a year and then die shortly after mating. The Queen Ant will lay her eggs while the female ants nurse the eggs, forage for food, and feed the larvae. Their main source of food is sweets but prefer protein rich foods when it comes to mating season during the spring and summer months.

Argentine Ants do not pose a threat to humans, just that they are dirty insects that can transport bacterial disease if crossed with human food that is then consumed.