Argentine ants are not native to North America report Monmouth County, NJ exterminators. These invasive ants have made their way to the United States from Argentina, Paraguay, Southern Brazil, and Uruguay.
All adult Argentine ants are the same size and should always be considered to be pests whether they have taken up residence in the yard or have made a structure their new home. Outdoors, argentine ants are quite adaptable as they build shallow nests under in the soil. Like other types of ants, Argentine ants will move indoors looking for food and water. It is not uncommon for them to make nests in wall voids once they move indoors.
Most ant species have one, two, or even three queen ants that produce eggs to enlarge the colony. The reproductive ants engage in a nuptial flight in which they find a mate and then the queen returns to the ground to make a new home in a process called “budding”.
With Argentine ants, there is no nuptial flight. Argentine ant colonies can have hundreds of queens in their massive colonies with millions of worker ants. The queen’s mate with the main queen’s unfertilized male eggs once they hatch, while still underground. After mating, the queens and some workers leave the colony to begin a satellite colony which is located close by the original nesting site. The satellite colony is connected to the main colony and worker ants are shared between the sites. The sharing of duties and close proximity allows for the Argentine ant colony to thrive and grow at an extremely fast pace.
Some ant species travel alone in their hunt for food, but Argentine ants always forage for food in trails. Watch for these ants climbing up trees and onto branches that are touching a structure. They may be traveling in thick lines along the pavement. They may also be traveling straight up a building in their search for food and water.
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