Pharaoh ants

They are the smallest ants found in Lithuania and live only in heated rooms.

Why it is a pest?

Can spread pathogens ⎯ bacteria and viruses. Studies have shown that around 15 species of pathogenic micro-organisms can spread in hospitals.
They contaminate food products.

Which areas are relevant?

Home
Public health
Food industry
Storage areas for foodstuffs and their raw materials
Catering establishments
Accommodation service companies
Hospitals and other health facilities

What do they harm and who do they harm?

For open foods
Stored produce, feed and raw materials
They undermine the image of companies

Key attributes

These are the smallest ants in Lithuania. Their size is 2.5⎯3 mm.
In our climate zone, nests can only be built indoors.
New nests are created by branching: usually one queen, five workers (sterile females who take care of the larvae and food) and 10 young migrate to a habitable site a few metres away from the main colony.
Each nest has several queens. The workers are brownish-yellow with a darker belly tip. Males (blackish brown with yellowish legs) are winged.
Nests are installed near water heaters, furnaces, radiators, under skirting boards, in cracks and crevices in walls, in furniture and similar hard-to-reach places.
The optimum temperature for life is around 30 ºC, therefore, it only spreads in heated rooms.
They are omnivores, attracted by protein foods: meat, other foods and animal foods, and eat dead insects.
They spread when young queens build new nests, when the colony splits or when they move to more favourable conditions. They also spread by colony collapse following unprofessional control procedures.

PEST CONTROL involves the protection of human health, property and food resources from unwanted harmful organisms ⎯ pests.