White-Footed Ant, Technomyrmex albipes

<strong>White</strong>-footed ant http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/entomo/ants/Pest%20<strong>Ant</strong>s%20of%20FL/<strong>White</strong>-f...<br />

Foraging<br />

Characteristics: Many<br />

small to medium sized<br />

black ants foraging in<br />

tight trails that<br />

sometimes branch.<br />

Foragers on walls and<br />

vegetation. Foragers tend<br />

honeydew-producing<br />

insects as well as visit<br />

flowers. When disturbed,<br />

ants will run in small<br />

erratic circles (more<br />

slowly than crazy ants)<br />

but will not turn gasters<br />

over their bodies (as<br />

acrobat ants will).<br />

Blacker and stouter than<br />

Argentine ants, but<br />

similar in size and<br />

foraging behavior. Body<br />

sizes slightly variable,<br />

but no obvious size<br />

differences.<br />

Nest Sites & Characteristics: Nests are usually<br />

outside, numerous, and often arboreal (in trees or<br />

shrubs, or in spaces above the ground in<br />

structures). Nests can be found in hollow<br />

<strong>White</strong>-<strong>Footed</strong><br />

<strong>Ant</strong><br />

<strong>Technomyrmex</strong> <strong>albipes</strong><br />

Detailed Description:<br />

Workers 2.5-3 mm (1/10-1/8<br />

in) in length, black to blackish<br />

brown in color. Tarsi (“feet”)<br />

and antennal flagella<br />

yellowish white. Head as<br />

long as wide. Five abdominal<br />

segments visible from<br />

above. One petiolar node. No<br />

sting. Few erect hairs.<br />

Twelve-segmented antennae.<br />

Subfamily Dolichoderinae.<br />

Most Common Complaints:<br />

Many foragers on outside<br />

walls and/or inside. Foragers<br />

on vegetation. Small<br />

gnat-like alates found dead<br />

around lights or windows on<br />

summer mornings. Piles of<br />

dead ants on windowsills, in<br />

sinks, corners, etc. Control by<br />

dilute sugar baits, chemical<br />

barriers to prevent structural<br />

access, and spraying<br />

landscape to control aphids<br />

and scales and to contaminate<br />

nest sites.<br />

Flight Season: Alates leave colonies<br />

from summer rainy season until<br />

mid-winter in South Florida. In<br />

Japan, swarming is much shorter in<br />

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<strong>White</strong>-footed ant http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/entomo/ants/Pest%20<strong>Ant</strong>s%20of%20FL/<strong>White</strong>-f...<br />

branches, and in any small spaces that might<br />

accommodate a pocket of ants, including under<br />

potted plants, in leaf litter, in the bases of palm<br />

fronds or banana leaves, between cut logs, in yard<br />

toys, in old termite galleries, under bark, behind<br />

hurricane shutter brackets, under fascia boards,<br />

and between bricks. Nests are readily abandoned<br />

and relocated when disturbed. Colonies can have<br />

many hundreds of queens, spread out among many<br />

subcolonies. Wingless reproductives cannot easily<br />

be distinguished from workers. Colony<br />

reproduction is by swarming or budding.<br />

Diet: Honeydew from aphids and scale<br />

insects, and nectar from flowers and<br />

extrafloral nectaries or sweets<br />

indoors. Protein such as dead animals,<br />

pet food and table scraps. Larvae fed by<br />

trophic eggs.<br />

duration (late May to mid June,<br />

which may be reflected in US<br />

population when it reaches its<br />

northern limits). Swarms occur late<br />

afternoon 4-5 feet off the ground in<br />

large clouds of tiny gnat-like alates<br />

that move with the breeze. Males are<br />

attracted to lights at night, and many<br />

dead alates can be found under lights<br />

that have been left on overnight, or<br />

illuminated in early morning hours.<br />

Distribution: Currently<br />

confirmed in Brevard,<br />

Broward, Collier, Dade,<br />

Hendry, Lee, Martin,<br />

Monroe, Orange, Palm<br />

Beach, Polk, St. Lucie<br />

Sarasota, and Seminole<br />

Counties. Will likely<br />

saturate urban and<br />

suburban habitats in<br />

central and south<br />

Florida.<br />

Origin: Asia<br />

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<strong>White</strong>-footed ant http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/entomo/ants/Pest%20<strong>Ant</strong>s%20of%20FL/<strong>White</strong>-f...<br />

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