Pharaoh ants and carpenter ants nest indoors, and carpenter ants occasionally damage wood. Ants also are commonly associated with aphids and other honeydew producing insects. The ants collect and feed on the sweet sticky honeydew that these insects excrete. In turn, ants protect these pest insects from attack by lady beetles and other natural enemies. Life History and Habits Ants are social insects that live in a colony of many specialized ant types.
Most ants are wingless workers.
They gather most of the food, rear young and defend the colony. Eggs are produced by the large queens, who have wings until they mate. The males are the smaller winged ants in the colonies. After they grow and molt over a period of a few weeks they pupate. The pupae do not feed and are immobile, soft and white.