WInged Ant-Like Insect
Sun, Apr 12, 2009 at 12:20 PM
This morning (April12) I was planting my garden when I saw three our four small areas in my backyard covered in hundreds of winged insects that looked exactly like black queen ants, and even had wings. They were about a centimeter (or maybe a little less) in length and seemed to be coming from the ground but I couldn’t tell exactly from where. Slowly the clumps of insects would fly into the air. What I am pretty sure about is that they’re not ants, because I don’t think this many winged ants all of a sudden come out of the Earth and gather the way I witnessed. Do you know what they are?
G. Spieler
Birmingham, AL, USA
Flying Termite
Dear G.,
This is a Winged Termite, either a male or female reproductive individual. When conditions are right, the future kings and queens leave the subterranean nest and embark on their nuptial flight. They will then mate and start a new colony.
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Posted 13 April 2009
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Ed. Note: 30 November 2008
Since we heard about other Southern Californians noticing the swarming Western Subterranean Termites over the past few days, we decided they would make an excellent Bug of the Month for December 2008
27 November 2008
Today while splitting wood at our Mount Washington, Los Angeles offices, we noticed the Western Subterranean Termites, Reticulitermes hesperus, emerging from the logs at the bottom of the wood pile. After two days of heavy rain, the late autumn sun triggered the nuptial flight. With the sun so low in the sky, the feeble flying swarm filled the air for several hours, emerging from nearby properties as well as our own. Charles Hogue has written in his wonderful book, Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “on warm sunny days following the first autumn rains, swarms of the winged adult forms of this termite are commonly noticed emerging from frame houses, fence posts, and other wooden structures that touch soil. The species has a high humidity requirement, which forces it to maintain contact with the ground, traveling up and down between its subterranean galleries and the wood through protected cracks in mortar or concrete foundations, or through earthen tubes that it constructs from soil, saliva, and chewed bits of wood. In Los Angeles and much of the West, this is the species that causes the greatest damage. It is probably safe to say that the majority of older houses in the Los Angeles area are infested to some degree with this termite. In general, however, damage is not noticeable until tunneling activity has proceeded to the point of weakening structural members in stressed areas, such as flooring and stairways. Severe damage requires a period of years to develop: our termites do not reduce a house to a pile of sawdust overnight! Homeowners are urged to have periodic inspections to determine the presence of termites. This is simply good insurance and should be done regardless of how many preventative methods were employed in the original construction. This species is distinguished from others that are prevalent in the basin by the black heads of its sexual forms, its earthen tubes, and the fact that it does not make pellet piles. Its tunneling pattern is also different: the workers attack wood only in the soft spring growth region of the annual rings. Thus a cross-section of an infested timber shows a characteristic pattern of concentric circles or arcs.”
Western Subterranean Termites Swarming
what are these bugs?
Hey there
These guys seem to have gathered around one of my windows in the last few days; when I keep the window open, they try to get in and more and more of them show up. They seem to be losing their wings pretty easily. When I close the window, they hang out but not in such numbers. I’m able to make them go away temporarily by putting a stick of incense between the screen and the window (shut), but inevitably, they come back. What are they and how do you get rid of them? I’m in LA (in case that helps figure out what these are). Thank you
Nat
Flying Termite
Hi Nat
You have Termites. These are flying reproductive king and queen Termites on their nuptial flight. Luckily, they are on the outside trying to get in. If they were on the inside trying to get out, we would say you have a termite infestation problem indoors. Generally, in Southern California, we see swarming termites on warm sunny spring days after a period of rain.
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Posted 17 September 2008
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Do you know what these are?
Upon cleaning (and I do it often so these cropped up within a few days) – I found a whole corner of my bedroom filled with these. Each is about the 1/2 the size of a pinhead – and the color varies between a sand color and a black. They don’t feel soft at all… and almost liken to a seed. I noticed they seem to be along the baseboard and where a whole appears, which could be where some kind of insect might be coming from. Im utterly perplexed and even more grossed out. Help! Thanks so much!
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
These are Termite pellets, fecal matter containing digested wood, which is very strong evidence you have a thriving Termite infestation in your walls.
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Posted 16 November 2007
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Drywood termite larvae?
Hi Lisa and Daniel,
With your help I identified some nasty larvae that had fallen from my wood beamed ceiling. I already had strong evidence of dry wood termites. I live in Playas de Rosarito, Mexico 20 minutes from San Diego on the beach. The humidity is very high. The homeowners here have predilection for wood vaulted ceilings. That is why I have not called an exterminator when every morning I see wooden droppings. At the beginning I thought these were grains of sand carried from the beach, but were not. My reasoning for not calling an exterminator was not because of mercy, I thought that when the house would not be toxic any longer (from the exterminators tent) and I would be able to comeback, the termites will be back as well either from the neighbors wood beamed ceilings or because of the environmental conditions. This morning, among the digested particles of my beautiful ceiling there were these very ugly crawling little beasts that resembled silverfish, but I noticed that the powerful jaws (seen on the picture), were not in the tail but in the front when they took their walking baby steps on my floor. I am sending you the picture; very similar to the one you have but this one show the jaws. Great site you have. I seen a website one time on how to kill dry wood termites naturally by introducing a worm like predator. Not very appealing but better than getting poisoned together with the termites. Could you ask your expert sources about it? I forgot the name of the worm and the site. Thanks
Celia
Hi Celia,
It is our belief that this is actually a Soldier caste from a different species, the Pacific Dampwood Termite, Zootermopsis angusticollis. This is a larger termite and it will eat all types of wood, but is most commonly found in buried wood that is subject to moisture. Hogue notes: “By vibrating their heads on the walls of their chambers, soldiers and nymphs produce an audible ticking sound that is believed to function as an alarm to the colony.” We don’t know about the parasite you mentioned.
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Posted 27 May 2006
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mayfly or stonefly family?
Dear Bugman,
Recently I left my normal, predominantly bug-free (aside from some silverfish) apartment at 12:00pm and returned at 5:00pm to find my bathroom swarmed with these dead and dying bugs. This happened last year around the same time as well, though at that time I found them by the sliding glass door of my living room. I know mayflies typically live just a few short hours but these don’t look like any of the mayfly photos I’ve found. These also look smaller than the stoneflies I’ve seen on the web. The bodies are just a little bigger than an ant. I’m very curious about the life cycle. What were they doing for the five hours I was away? They hatched? Flew around? Lost their wings and collapsed? Do I have to scrub my apartment clean to get rid of larvae that might hatch next year? And why didn’t they reappear where they were last year, at the glass door? It’s so freaky to come home to what looks like a mass slaughter, but what really bothers me are all those little wings that end up around the house. Many thanks,
Lane
Los Angeles, CA
Hi Lane,
Thanks for the head’s up that Termites are swarming in Los Angeles. You must have a colony somewhere in your walls and they swarm in the spring usually after a rain. This nuptial flight is composed of the reproductive queens and kings and they loose their wings after flying when they seek shelter in some crevice or crack and begin a new colony.
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Posted 11 April 2006
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According to Eric Eaton “Well, the mulch from Louisiana thing is a bunch of hogwash. Total urban myth, not an issue. I have this straight from Ag officials. No worries.”
Warning:
DO NOT BUY MULCH FROM LOUISIANA- from Environmental Dep at FAU- Valeria Volin- saturated in formosan termites!
I WITNESSED THIS A FEW DAYS BEFORE VALERIA SENT ME THIS- I WAS DIGGIN AROUND IN SOME MULCH WITH MY KIDS AT A PLAYGROUND AND THERE MUST HAVE BEEN ABOUT A MILLION TERMITES ABOUT AN IN DEEP!
Love Michele
FROM VALERIA VOLIN
For those gardeners among us: If you use mulch around your house be very careful about buying mulch this year. After the hurricane in New Orleans many trees were blown over. These trees were then turned into mulch and the state is trying to get rid of tons and tons of this mulch to any state or company who will come and haul it away. So it will be showing up in Home Depot and Lowes at dirt cheap prices with one huge problem; Formosan Termites will be the bonus in many of those bags. New Orleans is one of the few areas in the country were the Formosan Termites has gotten a strong hold and most of the trees blown down were already badly infested with those termites. Now we may have the worst case of transporting a problem to all parts of the country that we have ever had. These termites can eat a house in no time at all and we have no good control against them, so tell your friends that own homes to avoid cheap mulch and know were it came from.
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Posted 22 March 2006
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Termite hatch
Attached is a photo of a termite hatch from a cut-down Juniper stump. That’s a sprig of rosemary (with flowers) (upright, not trailing) in the upper left of the picture. Sorry about quality, but when this was taken, I didn’t own a macro. Entire mass of bugs is about a foot (about 31cm) across.
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thank you for sending this valuable image to our site. I’m sure we have many readers who would like to know hot to recognize swarming Termites.
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Posted 10 March 2006
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Identify please!
Dearest Bugman:
Today is the one of the first "above-normal" temperature-wise we have here in Nashville, TN and we’ve probably had over an inch of rain in the past few days. I was working in my garden/patio area when a zillion of these, each in single file, took off as if they were flying for the first time. They appear to be flying ants?! I am not sure exactly where they are coming from, possibly there is a nest between the cracks of my brick home. I was happy to see them flying away, but they didn’t really take off until I reacted to the site of them by stamping on them as they were hovering on their launch pad, my back doorstep! What are they and what should I do? Ick! Thanks for your oh-so-helpful knowledge and time with everyone’s bug issues.
Extremely bugged in Nashville!
Dear Bugged,
We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have swarming termites.
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Posted 09 April 2005
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hi I am from mexico and I have faund many insects in my garden that I cant identify so if you can help me I will be thankfull.
Daniel Vasques Abarca
Hi Daniel,
Did you attach photos? They did not arrive. Where in Mexico?
well first i¨am fome mexico city the capital y will send you the fotos now.
Hi again Daniel,
This image looks like a termite. (7/1/03)I moved into a duplex over a year ago and have noticed that starting around May-July, these winged, ant-like insects start invading the place. Theyre about 1/2 inch long, and seem to hop around erraticly more than fly. I’ve noticed that most of them are coming in through the vent in the ceiling in the heater closet. There is tree that hovers over my roof at about that point, so I’m guessing they are dropping down from there. They seem to be attracted to my tub or any kind of light once they get in the house. I’ve tried spraying inside the closet, but it seems they come back after a couple of days, and are probably getting in from other places as well. I’ve clear-caulked around the baseboards in my livingroom and there aren’t as many in that area now, though some still manage to get in from there. How do I get rid of them? I don’t necessarily like killing insects and mostly just throw them back outside, but there seems to be hundreds of these ant/beetles and I am unwilling to share my home with so many annoying pests. My landlords gave me a few bug bombs, but I don’t think that is going to do anything but poison my dog. I’ve resorted to putting some boric acid mixed with powdered sugar in the spots I’ve seen them (where my dog can’t get to it), but they don’t seem very interested and keep returning. Help!
Dear Bugged,
They are probably swarming ants or termites. The fertile kings and queens launch from the nest for their nuptial flight, mate and begin new colonies. Spring is the time for the swarms, usually on warm days after a rain. Food will not tempt them since they want to reproduce. An exterminator might be the answer.
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Posted 06 July 2004
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