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Winged Pavement Ant Indoors

Mature queen pavement ants produce winged reproductive ants, called swarmers. These swarmers fly out of the colony to mate and start new colonies. Pavement ant colonies produce winged pavement ants after two to three years. Winged pavement ants that enter building and homes can become a nuisance when large groups swarm indoors.

Winged pavement ants produce small swarms from late spring to summer. They may emerge daily or over a period of several days or weeks.

Pavement ant workers are about 1/8-inch in length, while queens are approximately 3/8-inch long. Their bodies are dark brown or black, with pale antennae and legs. If you have a magnifying glass, the head and thorax of a pavement ant are ridged with parallel lines, and their unevenly round thorax has a pair of tiny spines. The pedicel of the pavement ant's abdomen is two-segmented with two nodes. While pavement ants have stingers, they rarely use them.

Indoors, pavement ants will nest under floors, within walls and inside insulation. They prefer to nest near heat sources during winter and are often seen in the walls of ground-level masonry. Pavement ants also follow pipes, which they use to access upper floors of homes and buildings. Outdoors, they nest next to buildings, under stones or in pavement cracks so that they can enter the walls and other natural openings of buildings. 

Pavement ants are not a threat to the structure of buildings and homes. Pavement ants can be a serious nuisance to people. Pavement ants can be tracked by the trails of workers foraging for food.

Pavement Ants