Exotic Ants of North Carolina [North Carolina Ants] [North Carolina Pest Ants]
Currently, 13 exotic species are known to occur in North Carolina. The exotic ants listed below are thought to have originated from a variety of regions including Central and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia (Deyrup et al. (2000).
Clicking on a species name will lead to a page with further information and photographs of that species. Although species pages are at various levels of progress, most pages now have representative photographs of at least workers of the species. In addition to the photographs of ants taken by Joe MacGown at the Mississippi Entomological Museum (MEM), many photos are used, with permission, from AntWeb, a web site about ants of the world with amazing photos. Another site with photographs of ants is "Discover Life." The Discover Life site provides a list of North American ants with photos at "Kinds of Ants , Ants of North America Page". On each individual MEM species page, a link is provided (at the bottom of the page) for that species on both the AntWeb site and the Discover Life ant site. Additionally, many of the species found in this list can be identified using the identification keys found on this web site.
Exotic Ants of North Carolina (arranged alphabetically)
Brachymyrmex patagonicus Mayr (introduced-Argentina, pest)
Brachyponera chinensis (Emery) (introduced-China, pest)
Hypoponera opaciceps (Mayr) (introduced-Brazil)
Linepithema humile (Mayr) (introduced-Argentina, pest)
Monomorium pharaonis (Linnaeus) (introduced-Africa?, pest)
Nylanderia vividula (Nylander) (introduced?-Mexico?, nuisance pest)
Paratrechina longicornis (Latreille) (introduced-Old World Tropics-Africa?, pest)
Solenopsis invicta Buren (introduced-Brazil, pest)
Strumigenys membranifera Emery (introduced-Old World Tropics-Europe)
Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius) (introduced, pest)
Technomyrmex difficilis Forel (introduced, pest-previously misidentified as T. albipes (Smith), see Wetterer, 2008)
Tetramorium bicarinatum (Nylander) (introduced-Old World Tropics-SE Asia, pest)
Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus) (introduced-?, pest)
Deyrup, M., S. Cover, and L. Davis. 2000. Exotic ants in Florida. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 126 293-325.
Wetterer, J. K. 2008. Technomyrmex difficilis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae (in the West Indies). Florida Entomologist 91: 428-430.