DESCRIPTION
The pavement ants are about 1/8-1/16 inch long. They range from brown to black and have paler legs. They also have two antennae on their head. It has two spines on their back, grooves on their head, thorax, and two nodes on the petiole. If you see through a magnifying glass or microscope, you can see that pavement ants have tiny stiff hairs covering its entire body. Some of them have a stinger at the end of their abdominal.
Male pavement ants and the queen ants have wings, and they are twice the size. Spines are noticeable on winged females but are absent on the males. Flying pavement ants come out in spring, but if they get familiar to heat, then they can emerge any time of the year. Once flying ants mate, they shed their wings to lay eggs.
In buildings, pavement ants are most likely to be found in ground-level masonry walls, but they also nest in walls, insulation and under floors.
pavement ant colonie
A typical colony of pavement ants consists of one or multiple queens, males and the female workers. The male ants and queen ants have wings, while the female ants don’t have wings. The job of the male pavement ants is to mate with the queen, and they have a shorter life span than other ants. As the queen ant grows to adulthood, it spends the rest of her life laying eggs.
The ants also defend their colony by killing their enemy colonies in search of food or nesting space. They also protect the eggs and new born from unstable moisture and temperature.
are pavement ants harmful?
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Pavement ants are considered nuisance pests. They have a stinger, but they rarely sting people unless and until they are disturbed. These types of ants also bite, but it is generally too weak to penetrate human skin. Their bites are not venomous and do not require medical assistance. Sometimes the bite of a pavement ant can cause skin irritations or a rash for those who have sensitive skin.
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If pavement ants get into your home, they can create little health concerns. They always crawl around trash and then to your food or dishes spreading harmful bacteria like Salmonella. It is a bacterium that grows in the intestinal areas of animals and humans, which can cause food poisoning, serious infections, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, etc.
