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Ghost Ant Control Basics
Ghost ant control has been proven to be very difficult in highly suburbanized areas almost as difficult as its close relative the odorous house ant.
Ghost Ant Taxonomy
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Dolichoderini
Genus: Tapinoma
Species: melanocephalum
Ghost Ant Biology
Ghost ants have polygyne and unicolonial colonies.
New colonies are generally formed by budding.
Budding occurs when one or more females, accompanied by several workers and possibly some brood (larvae and pupae) leave an established colony for a new nesting site.
The development of workers from egg to adult lasted 16-52
Ghost ants have 4 Nymphal Stages
The highest egg production was 5.3 eggs a day.
The colonies are broken into sub-colonies that occupy multiple nest sites and exchange individuals back and forth along odor trails.
Ghost ants are opportunistic nesters in places that sometimes remain habitable for only a few days or weeks meaning they move the nests.
Ghost Ant Feeding Habits
The ants have an omnivorous diet typical of many tramp and pest ant species.
Worker ants have observed destroying eggs and first-stage larvae of the common housefly Musca domestica.
Diamondback moth larvae.
Two-spotted spider mites.
Aphids in glasshouses.
Western flower thrips.
They are frequently observed tending honeydew producing homopteran pests.
Dispersing a grass root mealybug on the roots of sugarcane.
Ghost Ant Colonies
Colonies occupy several local sites that are too small or unstable to support the entire colony.
Nests will exchange workers along pheromone trails.
Ghost ants colonies individual nests contain between 100–1000 individuals.
They primarily nest outdoors in small protected areas such as in a dead tree, in palm fronds, under potted plants, in limbs, under stones, and in organic debris.
Ghost Ant Eggs & Egg Laying
Queens lay large number of eggs which will hatch between 2 to 4 weeks into larvae.
Queens have a lifespan of only a few weeks in tropical environments.
Ghost Ant Control
Based on this pest biology it is not possible to control permanently with one service, 1 to 2 follow up services may be required within 30 days to achieve control indoors and a minimum of a bimonthly exterior preventive service to maintain control.
In certain areas this can be monthly or bimonthly.
Using sprays can repel them causing more budding and movement.
Ghost Ant Control Products
Exterior Perimeter Fipronil Termidor, Taurus or Fuse
Indoor Crack & Crevice with Alpine WSG
Baits with Optiguard, Maxforce Quantum, Intice Thiquid in Maxforce Buffet Stations and Cracks and Crevices.
Ghost Ant Studies
Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius) (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/ghost_ant.htm
Effects of Boric Acid, Fipronil, Hydramethylnon, and Diflubenzuron Baits on Colonies of Ghost Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1603/0022-0493-96.3.856
Elimination of a Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) infestation using imidacloprid bait.
https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20133307503
Interactions between Ghost Ants and Invasive Mealybugs: The Case of Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Phenacoccus solenopsis (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1653/024.097.0423
Ant Community Structure (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Two Neighborhoods with Different Urban Profiles in the City of São Paulo, Brazil
Results show that the recent urbanized neighborhood with greater disturbance favors opportunistic and dominant species to colonize it, like Tapinoma melanocephalum. We also made a temporal analysis in the ancient neighborhood, collecting ants after ten years from a first survey. T. melanocephalum has a broader range than ten years ago, displaced other ant species, but confronts with Pheidole megacephala that was not found in the recent urbanized neighborhood.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/psyche/2012/390748/abs/
Sucrose Triggers Honeydew Preference in the Ghost Ant, Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1653/024.098.0431
Description of the Larvae of Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1653/024.093.0214
First Report of the Ghost Ant, Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from Alabama
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3157/061.143.0201
http://www.piat.org.nz/uploads/PIAT_content/pdfs/ghost-ants-risk-assessment.pdf
Indoor Occurrence of the Ghost Ant Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Urban Homes in Korea
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5450968/
Invasive ant Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): A rare guest or increasingly common indoor pest in Europe?
https://antscience.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/klimes-okrouhlik2015-eje-inpress.pdf
https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/54310
THE FEEDING BEHAVIOUR OF THE GHOST ANTS, TAPINOMA MELANOCEPHALUM (FABRICIUS) AND TAPINOMA INDICUM (FOREL) (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11958862.pdf
Description of the Larvae of Tapinoma melanocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1653/024.093.0214
