Destructive Trailing Ant

Appearance

The worker is variable in size, from 1.8 to 3.5 millimeters in length, and color, from light yellow to darker brownish yellow, but usually with a "chocolate" abdomen. It has a square head and 12-segmented antennae with club-like tips. Each mandible has three large teeth and a much smaller fourth tooth. The body is mostly smooth and shiny with erect setae.

The queen ant is between 3 and 4 millimeters long and tawny in color with a brown abdomen. The head is more rectangular. The setae on the front part of the body are more curved and those on the abdomen are more flat than erect.

This species is similar to ''Trichomyrmex robustior'' and ''Trichomyrmex mayri'', which are darker in color, and ''M. latinode'', which has five teeth per mandible instead of four.

Distribution

This is a "tramp ant", an invasive ant species that easily becomes established and dominant in new habitat due to traits such as aggression toward other ant species, little aggression toward members of its own species, efficient recruitment, and large colony size. As a tramp ant, it has spread throughout the world via human transport systems, particularly shipping. It is introduced with freight in a variety of transport modes.

Today it can be found in tropical regions worldwide, and it can live in urban environments in temperate climates. It is present in or has been reported from many countries and islands in Asia, Africa, Australasia and other Pacific Islands, the West Indies, North, Central, and South America, and Europe. It is most widely distributed in the Old World, and it is very common in the Pacific Islands. Its native range is unknown. It has been hypothesized that it originated in India and perhaps other Asian countries, or Africa. Considering its close resemblance to African ''Monomorium'' species and its apparently continuous distribution from North Africa to Southeast Asia, its native range may include southern Asia and the Middle East, and it may have originated in North Africa.

Behavior

The colonies of this species are polygyne, having multiple queens. Colonies can be established in trees, in the soil, or inside buildings. They have been found in potted plants, lawns, and irrigated fields. In cooler climates, especially outside the tropics, colonies are often found in heated buildings. The ant has been known to nest inside power sockets and computers.

Workers forage slowly, traveling in narrow trails. It is a generalist species in terms of diet, gathering living and dead insects,
insect eggs, nectar, seeds, and almost any food item available in households. In trials of baits, the ant was most attracted to soybean oil and white bread, and clearly preferred peanut butter over honey. This ant tends sap-sucking insects to retrieve their honeydew, but it does not have the strong mutualistic relationship with these insects that many other ants do.