- Carpenter ants are among the most common types of ants that chew through trees and other types of wood in order to make their nests. They seek out moist or damaged wood, then chew a series of elaborate tunnels and rooms through the tree in order to make room for the colony. The nest of a carpenter ant is fairly easy to identify, for outside the tree there will be a pile of fine dust that the ants have chewed up and moved outside the tree. You can experience another telltale sign only during times of complete quiet: Listen carefully outside the tree and you'll hear the soft chewing of countless ants inside the colony.
Carpenter ants cannot eat the wood they chew -- in fact, they can't eat solid foods at all unless softened in water. Their diet consists mainly of tree sap or honeydew as well as sweet human foods such as syrups and sugars. - The velvety tree ant gets its name from the soft, velvetlike hairs that cover their abdomens and the fact that they are most commonly found nesting in trees. Trees of choice include the oak, the sycamore and various types of pine trees. Like carpenter ants, trees that are decaying or that have been damaged by moisture can be particularly attractive to colonies of these ants. Once they settle on a tree, they will typically begin at a point where there is a crook between the branch and the trunk, and hollow out a nest from this starting point.
The actual diet of velvety tree ants includes nectar and insects. They have been known to raise colonies of aphids within their own colonies, harvesting the aphids for the honeydew they produce. - The acrobat ant is a fairly small ant that can range in color from yellow to dark brown. These ants commonly make their homes in nests hollowed out from trees but will typically choose fallen logs and dead trees over those that are still living. They may also move into trees that have hollow cavities and are known to nest in piles of cut wood. As they chew through the wood in order to hollow out the large cavities that make up the nest, they will often push the chewed dust out of the entrance hole.
The first sign of acrobat ants is often a swarm searching for not only a place to nest but a food source. They are attracted to sweet foods, so keeping these kinds of food safely sealed will help discourage nearby nesting. - The southern fire ant is one of the few species that actually does eat trees. It has been known to eat the bark of young, immature trees, but this does not make up a major part of the ants' diet. In addition, they will also eat insects, sweets, seeds and liquids like nectar and honeydew.
These black ants with the amber heads are as flexible in their nesting sites as they are in their diet. While they can be found nesting in trees, they have also been found to nest in mounds on the bare soil, under rocks, and indoors in crawl spaces and other out-of-the-way places. Colonies can have up to 10,000 individuals.
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