Pavement Ants

Pavement Ant Facts

• Location: native to Europe and now widespread in the northern United States and southern Canada
• Color: dark brown to blackish
• Size: about 1/8 inch (2.5 to 4 mm)

Pavement Ant Behavior

The name comes from where they nest: in soil beneath sidewalks, driveways, patios and slab foundations, pushing little piles of dirt up through cracks. Neighboring colonies often battle in spring and early summer, leaving a crowd of dark ants on the concrete and many dead ones afterward.

Pavement Ants in Florida: Identification and Look-Alikes

Pavement ants are a cooler-climate species, most common in the northern United States, and they are not a common pest in Florida. Many of the small dark ants found along Florida driveways and slab edges are other species, so it’s worth taking a close look.

A true pavement ant worker has:

• Fine parallel grooves running lengthwise on the head and middle body section, visible with a magnifying lens.
• A pair of short spines on the back of the middle section.
• Two bumps, or nodes, in the narrow waist.
• Legs and antennae lighter in color than the body.
• Workers that are all about the same size.

Florida look-alikes include:

• Big-headed ants: very common in Florida. They push loose soil out of sidewalk cracks and along slab edges, and colonies include large-headed soldiers alongside small workers.
• Guinea ants: relatives of the pavement ant found in Florida, golden to reddish brown with a darker abdomen.
• Fire ants: reddish, mixed in size, and quick to sting when their mound is disturbed.

Where pavement ants do occur, they nest in soil under concrete, stones and patio blocks, and feed on seeds, honeydew from sap-feeding insects, dead insects, crumbs and grease. They are most active in warm weather, and in heated buildings winged swarmers can show up indoors at unexpected times of year. To learn whether ants are nesting near your slab, see pavement ant infestations.