This section contains archived content made available for reference, research, or record keeping purposes. These materials are not actively maintained and may not meet current accessibility standards. All links have been removed. Visit our current website for updated pages.

UC IPM Online UC ANR home page UC IPM home page

UC IPM Home

SKIP navigation

 

UC IPM Home > Antkey > Thief Ant

  Printer-friendly version

How to Manage Pests

Key to Identifying Common Household Ants


Quick Management Tips

Thief ant—Solenopsis molesta
Subfamily: Myrmicinae

Thief ant worker
Thief ant characteristics

Identifying characteristics

  • Workers are all the same size, tiny, 1/32-inch long
  • Yellow to light brown with very small eyes
  • Petiole with 2 nodes
  • Thorax uneven in shape when viewed from the side with no spines
  • 10-segmented antennae with a 2-segmented club

Behavior

  • Feed on grease and greasy foods, proteins, dead insects, and even dead rodents; may sometimes feed on sweets
  • Often steal food and ant larvae from nests of other ants
  • Travel in set trails inside cabinets, on walls, along baseboards, and along branches of trees and shrubs
  • May travel from one room to another by traveling on electrical wires; may be seen in electrical outlets.
  • Small enough to forage into packaged foods

Nest type and size

  • Nest outdoors in soil under rocks or in decaying wood
  • Indoors, colonies found in cabinet or wall voids or behind baseboards
  • Individual colonies small; may have multiple queens

See also, thief ant quick management tips.

Statewide IPM Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California
All contents copyright © 2017 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

For noncommercial purposes only, any Web site may link directly to this page. FOR ALL OTHER USES or more information, read Legal Notices. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual solutions to specific pest problems. See our Home page, or in the U.S., contact your local Cooperative Extension office for assistance.

Acknowledgements Staff-only pages Subscribe (RSS) Contact UC IPM

Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California

© 2017 Regents of the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Nondiscrimination Statement

Accessibility   Contact webmaster.