Flying Ant Types
Responding to natural seasonal cues, vast swarms of flying ants emerge once every year, usually after a heavy summer rain. Swarming over the tallest places in the immediate vicinity, they mate in flight with others from different colonies. After a day or two of mating frenzy, they lose their wings and drop back to the ground. The females will not return to their old colonies but instead start new ones, beginning their reign as queens.
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Types of Flying Ants
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As all ant colonies of every species are capable of having winged members among them, there are as many types of flying ants as there are types of regular crawling ones lacking wings. While some colonies produce winged members every year, smaller and less established ones tend to wait until their numbers are large enough before they produce and send out winged flying members to start new colonies. Like their non-winged counterparts, flying ants do not inflict harm unless disturbed. A swarm of flying ants, however, means there are large colonies in the area and new ones are about to be formed.
Carpenter and Field Ants
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As far as the location of colonies is concerned, ants are sometimes classified as carpenter ants, the common house-dwelling type and field ants, which can refer to any of a large number of non-house dwelling species. Larger and often confused with termites, carpenter ants nest in hollowed-out spaces in baseboards, door jambs, window frames and in nearly anything made of wood. Considered by some to be more destructive than termites, aggressive carpenter ants forage in and around in small numbers belying their hidden colony. Growing up to 1/4 inch long, the black carpenter ants have large mandibles for carrying their eggs and foraged food, tearing the body of their insect prey and pinching humans that get in their way.
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Fire Ants
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A generic term for ants of the same color and size, fire ants refers to any of the more than 200 species of small red ants. Related to wasps, both winged and non-winged fire ants carry the same potent sting harmful to humans with certain allergic reactions. The greater danger posed by fire ants is in their number; a sting by a single ant releases a hormone that signals all others in the colony to attack as well. With their colonies in open areas, dead-winged fire ants are sometimes blown into residential areas.
Other Dangerous Flying Ant Types
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Together with the fire ants, the Siafu and the Argentine ants, both winged and non-winged, are the most dangerous types of ants. Having several queens at any given time, Argentine ants are not only hard to exterminate, they also can exist in super colonies spanning several miles long. While their sting is not potent, their large numbers and disease-carrying abilities make them deadly.
To distinguish them from their relatives in the Americas, Siafu ants also are referred to as Old World army ants. Working in vast numbers of several millions and with military organization and precision, the Siafu ants---with their large mandibles---conquer anything in their path, including animals as large as an elephant.
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References
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