By: Faith Oi
Maybe it’s a stretch to go from an ancient Celtic celebration marking the end of harvest time and the beginning of winter to Jack-O-Lanterns to pest control, but don’t you wonder how the ghost ant was given its common name? The ghost ant’s scientific name is Tapinoma melanocephalum. I get the description “melan” meaning “black” and “cephalum” meaning “head,” because these ants do have a brownish to black colored head. So maybe the “ghost” descriptor comes from the pale-white looking abdomen?
This ant is hard to see sometimes because of its aforementioned abdomen. Some people think that it looks like a tiny spider when it is running around. (There’s something Halloween-ish!) It is about 1.3 to 1.5 mm long with a one-segmented petiole, but no node on the petiole. There are reports that colonies can range in size from 100 to 1,000 and contain multiple queens — which is not huge compared with fire ant colonies, which can be 250,000 or more.
Almost all references say that when you crush this ant, it smells like rotten coconuts. I don’t know of the last time anyone had the opportunity to smell rotten coconuts, but I personally have not. Frankly, a lot of these ants smell the same to me when crushed, so I tend not to use this as a “hard” identifying characteristic, but I throw it out there because it may work for some.
These ants like humidity, so they are found nesting in mulch, in decaying organic matter, potted plants, baseboards, and even the hollow framing of pool enclosures. They gain access into homes from the landscape by following the branches of trees and shrubs that touch the building. Thus, control strategy No. 1: Keep shrubs and tree branches away from structures.
Ghost ant nests can be difficult to find. (Almost ephemeral, like ghosts! OK, I’m done with the Halloween references.) Because nests are hard to find, exploiting this ants’ foraging behavior as part of your control strategy by using baits is a good bet. These ants tend to be sweet feeders in liquid or gel formulations. Make it easy for the ants to find your bait by placing it next to where you see ant activity.
Baiting works best when combined with other control methods such as removing harborage and good old sanitation.
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