Ants again!

Controlling Ants

“Did you know that on average, an ant can carry between 10 and 50 times its own body weight, and run at approximately 300 metres an hour!!”

National Geographic states that ants are common insects, but they have some unique capabilities. More than 15,000 known ant species occur around the world. They are especially prevalent in tropical forests, where they may be up to half of all the insects living in some locations.

There are approximately 1,400 species of Ants known in Australia. Ants are amazing creatures who are social insects that live in large colonies. In their natural environment, they play an important role as predators and scavengers, and assist in the recycling of nutrients in the soil. However, in our world, Ants are often regarded as ‘nuisance’ pests in and around buildings. Small mounds resulting from their excavations may be considered unsightly along garden paths, on balconies and around skirting boards and architrave bases in your home. As well as general ‘nuisance’ aspects, ants may present a health risk. There have been instances where ants have mechanically carried, on their bodies, or in the digestive tract, disease organisms causing dysentery and small pox, as well as a variety of pathogenic bacteria, including salmonella.

According to a Brisbane Times Article (published 8 August 2015), QLD has been crowned the territory with the most native species of ants in the world. Even beating out areas such as South America, New Guinea & Central Africa, which would for certain be quite surprising to some!

Here are the most common ant species we encounter in South-East Queensland:

Black House Ant

These ants are shiny, black, and around 2mm-3mm long. Their larvae hatch out of an egg as a grub. After some time (can be up to six weeks), the larvae will pupate (usually become a cream or white colour) and looks like an adult. The adult emerges with it’s defined body sections – head, thorax and abdomen. Black ants are usually found in kitchens, garbage, and also dog faeces, scavenging. They are a ‘sweet feeder’ attracted to sweet food sources.

‍Coastal Brown Ant

These ants are yellow-brown to brown in colour, and are not overly large at 1.5mm to 2.5mm long, but they have very large heads. Larvae hatch from small eggs, then after several moults, the larvae pupates into three different castes:

• Workers (nest builders, supply the food to the colony, feed larvae and defend the nest/colony)
• Females are the largest in size and will lose their wings after mating. The females will become the Queen (to reproduce) and live for years
• Males are called drones and exist only to mate with the female ant

They nest in soil and will excavate along pathways, gardens and walls. They are attracted to foods including meats, fruit, sweet items and greasy food.

Other ant species which can be found in South-East Queensland include Bull Ants (Myrmecia) (red or black large ants with a powerful sting usually found outdoors in mounds), Carpenter Ants (Camponotus) (also known as Sugar Ants) and Funnel Ants (Aphaenogaster). See Funnel Ants page here.

Controlling Ants