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Ants

Pest Name: Pharaohs Ants

Markings: Light beige, with darker head and abdomen.

Location: Inside, in numerous locations, but must be warm (18 C+ to breed)

Detection: Visual sightings (ant trails) of live specimens. Contamination of foodstuffs etc by dead specimens

General Information: Size - circa 2mm (workers)

The Pharaoh’s Ant as it's name suggests, is thought to have originated in Africa, or possibly the Mediterranean area, but they are now cosmopolitan, being found in all four corners of the world. They were well known in ancient times in the Mediterranean area, but as they require a warm climate, they did not spread further north until the advent of heating in buildings. When this happened, their spread became relentless. Its first appearance in Britain was in the early years of the 19th century. A theory exists that they came into Britain with soldiers returning from the Crimean war. Now they are found throughout the country in suitably warm premises.

Biology: Like all ants, this species has a well-developed social structure. The ant's nest is structured around the queen. She will lay several hundreds of eggs in her lifetime of 1 - 2 years. These hatch after 2 - 4 weeks into minute whitish larvae (grubs). Worker ants tend the larvae as they grow, and depending on temperature, they reach the pupal stage in 2 weeks to 2 months. After another 2 weeks or so, the adult ant emerges, to take its place in the social structure. Worker ants will pick up and carry to safety both the larval and pupal stages if the nest is threatened. This moving process also takes place deliberately to start new colonies. During the growth of the colony, many queens (and at times, males) are produced. Often, a queen will go with the workers to start a new colony, but this is not essential - workers can create new queens and males from the developing larvae.

Temperature is very important in the life of Pharaoh’s ant. Although they can function quite well at cooler temperatures, it must be at least 18oC to breed. The optimum temperature is close to 30oC, meaning that colonies are often sited in central heating ducts or close to pipes and boilers. Thus, their presence in centrally heated is becoming more common.

It is the sterile worker ants, out foraging for food, that are most usually seen. They can be detected many metres from the nest site, following pheromone trails laid down by other workers. Ants can communicate on a number of levels, passing on in formation such as the location of food etc.

Reasons for Control: Pharaoh’s Ants are thought to be frequent carriers of disease. Pathogens may be picked up as the ants forage - their very small size and their strong jaws mean that they can get inside many products. Thus they can either damage the goods or become a foreign body contaminant. In areas such as hospitals, they can move from dirty, unsavoury areas to clean (possibly even sterile) areas very easily. In addition, the very presence of the insects is unpleasant. Some say they also have a pungent and distasteful odour.

Wasps & Hornets have a potentially fatal sting

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