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Ants
Common Ants
Key Facts About Ants
Ants are social insects, living in colonies. Inside these colonies, the ants are divided up into multiple castes which all play their own unique role in the larger ant community. At the heart of each nest is a queen ant, who will only ever leave when travelling to form a new nest. Queen ants are significantly larger than workers, growing up to 9mm long. What’s more, they live much longer than other castes of black ant- up to 30 years, compared to 4 years for the average worker ant.
Worker ants are by far the most common, with the number in a nest varying from just a handful to potentially a few thousand. This caste is made up of the ants who will travel away from the nest in search of food, and therefore virtually all of the ants that you see in your garden will be workers. Workers will also take care of ant larvae in established nests, providing them with the food they need to grow. What you may not know is that ants can also act as farmers, carrying smaller aphids to plants and then collecting the secretions from these aphids to take back to the nest as food for the colony.
During some seasons, the two aforementioned castes will also be joined by one more: flying ants. This caste come equipped with wings to help them travel away from their colony and establish a new nest. Most of these flying ants are male workers, but in amongst them will be a number of presumptive queens, who are essential to the success of any new nest. While these flying ants can be a particular nuisance- especially when huge numbers (potentially thousands) of them gather in one area- the males thankfully only live for a couple of days after they have mated.
Usually, worker ants are 0.75mm to 52mm long, and in virtually all cases are coloured black- any red ants you see form a separate species. Flying ants are typically larger and therefore more noticeable, with presumptive queens being around 8mm to 52mm and mating males some 3.5-8mm. When they have mated, these presumptive queens will shed their wings and then venture underground to set up a new nest.
Hazards which they can Cause
Ants Significance of Control
Ants are the one of the indigenous species that commonly enter houses. Foraging workers are very active and will feed on a wide range of foodstuffs but prefer sweet substances. They do not normally pose a health risk but are a nuisance and can physically contaminate foodstuffs and cause distress.
Although ants are most visible during some seasons, when the flying ants leave the nest, an infestation will likely end up leading to issues throughout the entire year. This is because in these cases, the ants will typically build their nests inside the insulation layer underneath the property, where there is plenty of room for their whole colony. In addition, flying ants swarm when they mate, meaning you will have to periodically contend with large numbers of these irritating creatures.
In addition, ants can also cause problems in gardens. As mentioned earlier, these ants farm aphids, which they will carry from plant to plant to ensure they keep on producing a large amount of what’s known as “honeydew”. This can be extremely irritating for gardeners, as it means their otherwise healthy plants can be decimated by an infestation that’s tough to control on its own.
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