ARGENTINE ANTS

Argentine Ants

Description: The Argentine Ant is a relatively small ant (the workers are about 2.5 mm in length and the queen is about double that size), light brown to dark brown in color and have one node on their pedicel.

Biology: The vast majority of the eggs are laid in the summer months. They are very adaptable to surroundings. In a well established colony, there can be hundreds of queens and thousands of workers. The eggs that the queen lays will hatch in about a month. The larval stage takes about a month and the pupa stage about two weeks. Thus they can mature from the egg stage to the adult stage in about two and a half months. The workers as well as the Queens can enter a colony other than their own and will be well received instead of being killed.

Habits: Workers seem to invade everything; even food in a screw top glass jar is not necessarily safe from their pillaging. Another reason for the success of an Argentine Ant colony is that the vast numbers of queens mate in their nests and thus are not exposed to the dangers of the big outside world. The male, once it is mated, leaves the nest and soon dies.

Learn More About Other Ants:

CARPENTER ANTS, PHARAOH ANTS, ACROBAT ANTS, THIEF ANTS, ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS, PAVEMENT ANTS