Avoid bare-handed or barefoot combat with this ant crawling around Kentucky
Before you squish that ant crawling across your kitchen counter, be sure you know what you’re dealing with.
University of Kentucky entomologists are raising red flags about Asian Needle Ants — a stinging ant species that is becoming more prevalent across the commonwealth. These ants look like your common ant, but they definitely don’t fight like them.
The needle ants have a sting that is described as “a little more intense than your standard bee or wasp sting” and can have significant health consequences if someone turns out to be allergic, said Zachary DeVries, an assistant professor of urban entomology. The ants are a little more elongated than a common ant and will have a stinger on the end, but they may be hard to spot by the untrained eye, DeVries said.
While DeVries, an expert on urban pests or “anything that you may find in or around your house,” encourages folks to watch for the ants, he also has another message: Don’t panic. The stinging ants — which mainly feed on termites — prefer wooded areas. As long as they’re out of your house, you probably won’t be vulnerable to getting stung.
“When they start getting into people’s homes and you’ve got a lot of them around, that’s when you start breeding this bad situation where people could bump into them and eventually get stung and then have some pretty bad health consequences,” DeVries said.
Asian Needle Ants can largely be kept out of homes with simple maintenance, he said. Make sure homes — especially older homes — are well sealed, keep the grass around the house short and remove any dead tree limbs or logs from the yard, DeVries said. Those steps will make the area surrounding the home less hospitable to the ants.
“All of those non-chemical things actually go a really, really long way of keeping the ants from even getting close to your house,” DeVries said.
The ants were first observed in the United States in the 1930s, DeVries said. There’s no way to know exactly how they got here, he said, but the theory is that the ants likely traveled to the continent via shipping lanes. They were first documented in southern port towns. They’ve slowly spread across the Southeast and were first observed in Kentucky in 2013.
If they are in a home, they’re typically looking for food and a place to hide.
“Your home isn’t necessarily their No. 1 stop, and if it’s close by and it’s there, they’ll take advantage of it,” DeVries said.
The ants are not hyper-aggressive like fire ants, DeVries said. They only sting in defense.
Before they sting, they’ll typically bite down first to gain leverage and then sting, DeVries said. They can sting multiple times, but the stinger doesn’t stay lodged in the wound like with a honey bee.
Reactions to being stung vary. DeVries said some people have mild reactions while others are extreme. The pain can last anywhere from just a few hours to a couple weeks. Generally the sting can be treated like stings from other bugs, but some folks can have a severe allergic reaction and should seek professional medical help if they do.
If people find ants that they’re not sure about, DeVries said UK would be happy to help identify them. Photos or specimens can be sent to the county’s UK agricultural extension office — every county has one — and the extension agent can typically identify them, DeVries said.
If people want to send specimens, DeVries recommended capturing the ants with forceps or with a bagless vacuum. Squished ants are also accepted, but DeVries recommended sending more than one to help them piece them together.
“There’s no need for anyone to panic,” DeVries said. Just be cautious around ants and be reluctant to squish one with a bare hand.