The Argentine ant was first recorded from South Africa, in Cape Town, in 1908. It is thought to have come into South Africa in fodder imported from Argentina for British cavalry fighting in the Anglo-Boer war but it is quite possible that it arrived in South Africa earlier than this. It is indigenous to Argentina but has been distributed all round the world and become a serious pest. Despite the fact that queens emerge from their pupae with wings, they do not go on a nuptial flight. Instead, they hang around in the nest where the males find them and mate with them.
Males fly from their nests on warm nights in late summer and seek out nests with virgin queens.
After mating the male dies and the queen breaks off her wings, sometimes helped by the workers. As in all ants, the male's sole role is to mate. All other activities in the nest are undertaken by the workers and queens which are all female. As queens do not go on nuptial flights and start up nests by themselves, new nests can only be formed by budding off from old nests. A retinue of workers and queens will start up a new nest within ant walking distance of the old nest.