Ant Food Sources

ANTS Florida has the largest fauna of exotic ants in the us 52.

Whitefooted antsWhite Footed Ant BiologyWhite footed ants are often found in areas where annual ‐rainfall exceeds 60 inches. 60 to 80 inches per year in south Florida.

White footed ants feed on plant nectars and honeydew.‐

WFA reproduce in large numbers colonies can range from 8,000 to 3 million.

Colonies multiply by a process called budding.

WFA ants find their way inside wall voids.

Nests are frequently found in trees and bushes, tree holes, under palm fronds and old leaf boots, under leaves on trees, in loose mulch, under debris, in leaf-litter both on the ground as well as in rain gutters, wall voids, and attics.

WFA is an extremely difficult pest to control due to the large size of its colonies and multiple nesting sites.

Crazy ants

Crazy ant (Paratrechina longicornis) colonies range from moderate to heavily populous. The colonies may raise sexuals at any time of the year in warmer places such as south Florida The antennae of the crazy ant have 12-segments without a club and are extremely long. Crazy ant colonies are polygyne. Nests contain up to 2000 workers and 40 queens.

Colonies occur in temporary nests, are highly mobile, and will move if disturbed. Crazy ant foragers are opportunistic omnivores. In the summer they have a preference for a high-protein diet. They are attracted to honeydew producing homopterans in spring and autumn/fall. It is known to transport pathogenic microbes in hospitals. Nests can be in cracks in concrete or around wharf piles, which makes nests often difficult to locate and control.

Crazy ants

Crazy ant (Paratrechina longicornis) colonies range from moderate to heavily populous. The colonies may raise sexuals at any time of the year in warmer places such as south Florida The antennae of the crazy ant have 12-segments without a club and are extremely long. Crazy ant colonies are polygyne. Nests contain up to 2000 workers and 40 queens.

Colonies occur in temporary nests, are highly mobile, and will move if disturbed. Crazy ant foragers are opportunistic omnivores. In the summer they have a preference for a high-protein diet. They are attracted to honeydew producing homopterans in spring and autumn/fall. It is known to transport pathogenic microbes in hospitals. Nests can be in cracks in concrete or around wharf piles, which makes nests often difficult to locate and control.

Ghost Ant BiologyNew colonies are generally formed by budding.

The colonies are broken into sub-colonies that occupy multiple nest sites and exchange individuals back and forth along odor trails.

Ghost ants are opportunistic nesters.

Using sprays can repel them causing more budding and movement.

Ghost ants colonies that can build up large numbers with individual nests containing 100–1000 individuals. The colonies occupy several local sites that are too small or unstable to support the entire colony, and nests will exchange workers along odor trails.

The queen ant lays a large number of eggs, which hatch after two to four weeks into larvae.

Queens have a lifespan of only a few weeks, In tropical environments they will primarily nest outdoors.

Paver Ants

In early summer, winged reproductive females and males are produced (flying ants) Mating occurs during nuptial flights (swarms) in which alate (ants with wings) leave colonies and mate. Pavement ants form large colonies, often containing over 10,000 workers. It takes 42-63 days at 69-75°F for a fertilized egg to develop into a worker pavement ant in an established colony. The majority of nests occupy 12-52 ft2 in area and are 1.47- 2.95 feet deep with multiple crater-shaped mound entrances per nest. Mounds near entrances are not always obvious, as they are built up after rains but slowly collapse thereafter. Pavement ants are generalists and their diet includes arthropods, honeydew, seeds, and pollen.

Big Headed AntsNest are often confused for fire ant nests

A generation of minor workers takes 34-38 days to complete development at 26-27°C

Incubation time of eggs ranges from 13 to 32 days.

Duration of the larval stage ranges from 23 to 29 days.

Duration of the pupal stage ranges from 10 to 20+ days.

Life spans of minor workers have been shown to be 78 days at 69.8 °F38 days at 80.6 °F.

Queens can lay up to 292 eggs per month.

In south Florida nuptial flights of alates can be observed during the winter and spring.

In South Florida there is year-round brood production.

Big Headed ants Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius),Trails of foragers can often be observed along trees trunks, sometimes climbing into canopies of tall trees. BHA can be found nesting in disturbed soils. The colonies, which are continuous, with no evident pheromone-based boundaries, and large numbers of fertile queens, are able to reach enormous size. They form a virtually continuous supercolony that excludes most other ant species. Casts: Minor, Major, Queen, Male It is multi-queened and is able to spread by budding off groups of workers along with inseminated queens

BHA is omnivorous, feeding on sweet liquids such as honeydews, dead insects, and soil invertebrates. Arthropod prey are dissected by workers and brought back to the nest.

Foragers will quickly recruit nest mates to a food source.

Foraging tunnels having numerous entrances can be seen along the soil surface.

Carpenter ants Camponotus floridanus (Buckley) and Camponotus tortuganus (Emery). Black Camponotus pennsylvanicus (DeGreer),Florida panhandle is a WDO. floridanus is found widely distributed throughout Florida tortuganus is limited to central and southern Florida. The antennae of Florida carpenter ants are 12-segmented As with all members of the Order Hymenoptera, carpenter ants develop by complete metamorphosis, going through stages of the egg, larva, pupa, and adult worker or reproductive. Alates are observed from spring to fall. Queenless satellite nests are often founded within 20 to 100 feet of a mature nest. Questions to ask Had any leaks Had termites Where do you see them

Rodent Proofing