Foraging Characteristics: Medium sized, pale orange to dark brown, slender and elongate ant. Foraging singly, moving quickly. Nest is distinctive cone-shaped mound in sandy soil. Ant does not sting or act aggressively. Nests not large. Workers have strong odor when crushed described by some as rotting coconuts.
Diet: Hunt live insects, including winged fire ants. Collect honeydew from sap-sucking insects.
Detailed Description: 2-4 mm (1/12–1/6 in) long. Integument thin. Twelve-segmented antennae. Propodeum bearing a tooth-like protuberance projecting vertically in side view. Ventral surface of head with a few very long, curved hairs, used for carrying pellets of damp sand. Subfamily Dolichoderinae.
Most Common Complaint: Crater-like nests in open areas of yard. These ants are outdoor species and chemical control is usually unwarranted.
Flight Season: Fall to spring or some species, year-round for others. Warm and humid weather.
Nest Sites & Characteristics: Nest in soil, sandy soil preferred. Typically, nest has a single entrance surrounded by crater-shaped mound of soil and a single queen per nest. One dark colored species, however, is a temporary parasite on the most common orange species and occupies a number of nests at a time, with multiple queens.
Distribution: Widespread
Origin: Native.
