While most ants are wingless and flightless flying ants also known as alates or swarmers are still normal carpenter ants.
Flying ants in roof.
Most species of ants produce winged ants that fly.
Termites also have wings in some seasons and they almost look like flying ants.
Roof screening becomes a must in order to prevent entry of flying ants in house.
So if flying ants are seen in the home in the winter it is most likely that it is an ant that is living within the structure of your home and worse it is very likely that there is a carpenter ant nest within the structure.
Mating typically takes place within a single day.
So it becomes important to identify and differentiate between termites and flying ants so that you can use proper methods to get rid of these insects.
Hence during the mating season always screen your roof.
Ants can be a menace to deal with.
When the ant colony is naturally ready to expand.
Interestingly though flying ants also known as swarmers or alates aren t actually a different variety of ant at all.
How to differentiate between flying ants and termites.
Flying ants are sexually mature ants who are looking to start a new colony.
Seeing a flying ant in your home or yard can be troubling but is by no means a reason to panic.
Flying ants have a pair of large front wings and a smaller pair of back wings while winged termites have two pair of same sized wings.
These are the reproductives of the colony created by the queen and fed by the workers the reproductives go through their immature stages developing inside of the colony.
But beyond that they can cause structural damage to your home and roof costing you money and causing major inconvenience.
Flying ants may seem more formidable than their tiny ant counterparts.
Flying ants or alates as entomologists refer to them are simply ants that are sexually mature.
Natural ways to get rid of flying ants.
This is sometimes referred to as hilltopping.
The flying ants form various colonies then swarm around certain places in the area usually a place of slightly higher elevation such as a hill tree or roof.
The males then die and the females disperse to establish colonies or in some rare cases.
Flying ants resurface every summer and can cause disruption and discomfort to homes and gardens.
If you suspect that you have ants entering your home via your roof or attic it s important to identify the source and stop the ants in their tracks.
They just only come out during certain times of the year to do work for their ant colonies.
