After mating, the males die. The queen loses her wings and digs a small tunnel or gallery in which they begin laying eggs and culturing her fungus garden on her feces. The queen feeds largely on her own eggs until small worker ants develop from the surviving eggs and begin to collect foliage on which to culture the fungus. Colonies can survive for many years and colonies may contain over 2 million ants. The nest interior may be 15 to 20 ft. deep and contain numerous chambers interconnected by tunnels.
Mouthparts are for chewing.
Worker ants remove leaves and buds from weeds, small grains, forage and turf grasses, fruit and nut trees including plum and peach trees, blackberry bushes, and many ornamental plants. Pine trees and pine seedlings may also be damaged when other plant material is scarce. Defoliation is particularly noticeable during winter months. Worker ants forage when temperatures range from 45 to 80 degrees F during the year, but mainly at night during the summer. Worker ants travel up to 600 ft.