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Life Cycle average 2.5 months time period
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Egg - Larva 12 - 60 days
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Larva - Pupa 11 - 60 days
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Pupa - Adult 10 - 25 days
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Egg-adult minimum period is 30 days. This is sometimes delayed for up to 4 - 5 months.
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Ants, Bees and Wasps are social insects highly dependent on each other for their survival.
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Queens are fertilized females after the wings are cast off
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Males are short lived. They often have wings to take part in nuptial flights with females that later become queens
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Workers – These are usually sterile females comprising the bulk of the colony.
Invasive Ants such as Argentine Ants are not only a nuisance pest, they are also a threat to New Zealand's biodiversity. They attack and eliminate other insects and invertebrates when they move into a new area.
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Ants are nuisance pests and can cause electrical and electronic faults when they get into equipment such as switch gear, exchanges and computers. Ants can also contaminate food stuffs and damage garden plants.
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During Winter Ant colonies will often combine and separate again in Summer. Swarms of winged males and females of many species take off on nuptial flights during Midsummer to late Autumn. The ants fall to the ground after their nuptials followed by the males perishing and the fertilized females that are now queens casting their wings crawling off in search of ideal locations for new colony establishment.
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After the new Queen has excavated a cavity below stones or trees, she begins laying her first eggs tending to them through the larvae and pupal stages. The Queen is relieved of all her work duties as the new workers eventually emerge ending her role as an egg-laying ‘machine’.
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White Footed is the most common and troublesome in Northern New Zealand homes.
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Darwin Ant is now well established throughout the country. Darwin Ant is 2mm long, medium dark brown, giving off a musty, greasy odour.
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Argentine Ant is a very similar imported ant and also now established in New Zealand. Argentine Ant is more annoying than the Darwin Ant and is likely to be a major pest of the future in New Zealand. The point of difference to the Darwin Ant is the lack of pungent smell when squashed.
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Colonies can be very large and complex. Numbers can range from just as few dozen through to many thousands.
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A colony holding Queens can vary from 1 to several hundred.
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Some species of winged females and workers can bite and sting, causing considerable pain.
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Workers duties are to continually extend the nest, forage for food feeding the Queen and her brood. They also attend to the colony hygiene and defend the colony when danger threatens. If necessary they relocate to deeper galleries or another site transporting the eggs, larvae, pupae and queens to safer ground.
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Ants can cover considerable distances carrying items many times their own size and weight.
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Ant diets and food preferences are varied. Seasonal changes and the weather cause changes in diet. Diets include: sugar, jam, honey, confectionery, fruit leaves, plants, flowers, vegetables and the remains of animals, birds and other dead insects as they are Carbohydrate, protein + vegetation feeders.
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When a food source gets low migration normally takes place.
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Nests are often found in both wet and dry situations below logs, foliage, stones, soil, concrete, walls building & garden vegetation.
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Chemical marker trails are laid by other ants returning from a food source. These trails are followed by most species being the main highways for them and are often seen in gardens and kitchens.
