They are flattened and somewhat scale-like. One unusual aspect of their behavior is that they excrete small white pellets, which somewhat resemble granulated sugar or salt. Recommended treatments in gardens include dusting sulfur, diazinon, or permethrin. Sometimes people will observe winged ants issuing in large numbers, pushed out by the wingless workers, from a colony established between a sidewalk crack or in a small mound. Other times only the winged forms will be seen, aggregating in large numbers around certain prominent points in the landscape.
Ants are social insects.
Originally winged, after mating she sheds her wings and the no longer used wing muscles are an important source of nutrients for her during the early stages of colony development. Very, very few queens successfully survive this period and establish a functional colony. However, if the colony makes it through this period it can begin to grow. Wingless, non-sexually mature workers are reared which subsequently help expand the colony. After several years, the colony may be well-established and then some resources are put into rearing reproductive forms.