DESCRIPTION
A small, dull, and cloudy-black coloured ant which can reach up to 3mm in length during adulthood. It is distinguished by the pale colouration on all of its tarsi and antennae which are a whitish-yellow colour. Unlike the Common Black Ant, it features a single petiolar node which is hidden and has 12 antennal segments.
Present all across Australia and in many parts of the world, these ants are native to tropical Asia.
Nests are more commonly located outdoors and there are often additional nests in close proximity. These new nests are created by the process of budding, where a selection of male and female ants leave the original nest and start a new colony.
Nests can be found in trees, shrubs or anywhere that will accommodate a group of ants including brick voids and behind fascias.
Although bait toxicants may not be orally transferred between workers, they can still kill enough workers to cause death of brood by starvation.
behaviour
These social ants are known to create incredibly large colonies that have a range of queens. Their reproduction potential is phenomenal due to the multiple fertile members of the colony. Some colony sizes are estimated at tens, even hundreds of thousands.
The White-Footed Ant is not a biting insect and primarily exists on sugary foods, particularly honeydew and occasionally proteins. Workers from this trailing species are very prevalent when foraging, as they can exist in large numbers.
prevention
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The white-footed ant is an extremely difficult pest to control due to the large size of its colonies, but control can be achieved. Baits are effective for many sweet-feeding ant species. No surface or residual treatments with liquid insecticides have yet been found to be effective for controlling these ants
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Management has only been accomplished by treating infested homes exclusively with baits containing borates. It is critical that all populations of white-footed ants on the property being treated are identified so that baits can be made available to each population
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Since liquid baits tend to slowly dry out, it is important that fresh baits are always available until the target population has been controlled.
