These will be the founders of next spring's colonies. The old founder queen dies, and the workers begin to behave erratically until social order breaks down. With winter's arrival, the remaining colony dies. It constructs aerial nests often a foot or more in diameter. Relatively little is known about this species despite its abundance and wide distribution.
Most reports indicate subterranean nests.
Haviland described 10 nests, each of which had a nearly spherical ground opening about 1.5 cm in diameter. The nest looks much like that of D. maculata except the outside envelope has the consistency of charred paper. As the nest becomes larger, workers remove soil from the burrow. The soil is always deposited about 1 cm distance from the nest. According to Haviland, nests ranged from 9.5 to 30 cm in diameter.