August 1996
SIZE: 1/10 to 1/8 inch (2-3mm)
COLOR: Brown to black
DESCRIPTION: The pavement ant is a small, brown to black ant with pale legs and a black abdomen. Pavement ants feed on a variety of materials, including live and dead insects, honeydew from aphids, meats, grease, etc. They often enter houses looking for food. They may become numerous in a short period of time in a kitchen or outside on a patio.
HABITAT: Pavement ants are very common in the eastern United States. These small, brown to black ants usually nest under stones, concrete slabs, at the edge of pavements, and in houses in crevices in woodwork and masonry.
LIFE CYCLE: New ant colonies are started by a single queen that lays the eggs and tends the brood that develops into worker ants. Tending of the brood is then taken over by the workers, which shift the brood from place to place as moisture and temperature fluctuate in the nest. When workers forage for food for the queen and her young, they often enter houses and become a nuisance.
TYPE OF DAMAGE: They feed on animal food, grease, seeds, etc.
CONTROL: The nests are often difficult to locate, so control is usually aimed at individual ants or groups of ants.
INTERESTING FACTS: Ants feed on almost anything consumed by humans.