Length: Adult ant is 1.5 mm
Colour: Adult ant is yellow or light brown to red.
Other Features: Club at end of antennae has three segments.
These minute, multi-colony ants are extremely difficult to eradicate. In hospitals they have become a serious health concern, transmitting infectious disease because of their attraction to blood, intravenous fluids, body fluids and wounds. The Pharaoh ant nests in inaccessible locations near warm, moist areas. A very low percentage of a colony leaves the nest to forage; those that do, forage long distances, feeding on protein and sugar sources. The ant colonies have multiple queens and workers can number 300,000 or more. The use of insecticidal dusts or sprays easily causes the colony to bud off to initiate new colonies.
