Argentine Ants
Don’t wait for Argentine Ants to take over your home. A qualified service technician from Speedy’s can determine the correct ant species and determine the best course of action to eliminate and prevent them from re-entering your home.
Description: Argentine ant workers are 1/16th inch long and are colored light to dark brown;males are slightly smaller and are shiny brown-black. These ants lack spines on the thorax which is unevenly rounded when viewed from the side, have a single node on the petiole, and do not have a circle of hairs at the tip of the abdomen. The eyes are located very close to the base of the antennae. and appear to be looking forward.
Biology: Colonies consist of several hundreds to several thousand workers and several queens. They are located in moist areas near a food source. Developmental time (egg to adult) is 33 to 141 days, averaging 74 days. Swarmers are rarely seen because mating occurs within the nest.
Habits: Argentine ants are found throughout the Southern United States and California. Typically, they live within nest outdoors near a food source but become major pests when they forage for food indoors. Overwintering nests are large, may have several queens, and are found deep within the soil and within buildings near heat sources. In the spring, these nests disperse with smaller colonies developing in moist soil, in trees, and beneath stones and concrete slabs.
The colonies are mobile and relocate to more acceptable nesting locations whenever necessary. In the fall, they congregate in communal overwintering sites. Ant numbers decrease somewhat during this period.
Argentine ants are very aggressive and eliminate other ant species in the areas they colonize. They attack, destroy, and eat other household pests such as cockroaches. They prefer sweets, often tending aphids or scale insects on plants, and use them as a source of honey dew.