It is a native species and is found throughout the United States. Body brown to black. Antenna 12-segmented, without a club. Thorax lacks spines, profile unevenly rounded. Gaster with anal opening slitlike, lacking circlet of hairs.
Workers emit a disagreeable, rotten, coconut-like odor.
Colonies may be composed of several hundred to 100,000 ants. There are usually many queens in a colony. Colonies typically produce 4-5 generations a year. Although they probably mate both inside and outside the nest, the first swarmers appear from May to mid-July. The workers and queens live for several years.