Ants
Identification
The black garden ants make up organized colonies of up to many thousands of ants. The ants are made up of infertile female workers, fertile males and females (queens).
Ants can be called superorganisms because the colony appears to work as a single unit, this particular ant is part of the subgenus Lasius, found all over Europe and in some parts of North America and Asia.
Habitat
Ants live in colonies. This means they have communities of ants with many different jobs for the members of that community. The places where they live are called ant nests and they are built by the ants using only their mouths and their hands. In comparison to human habitats, you could say an ant nest is like building a tower block that is several miles high. In this small city, ants can feel secure. They are safe from their enemies, and have special, separate places to store food and garbage. The nest is, also, a safe place for brood rearing. A colony may have as many as 700,000 members!
Damage
Visual sightings is the only real sign that there is a nest present or foraging ants have a nest nearby.
Black garden ants often explore their surroundings quite extensively during early summer months, visual sightings are the primary danger sign that an ongoing infestation is present or possibly the start of an infestation.