Worker body color ranges from light brown to blackish brown; the legs are light brown. The surface of the head and thorax has distinct longitudinal grooves, which help in its identification.
Nests are in exposed soil, under stones and pavement, and along sidewalks. Indoor nests may be in masonry walls and along the foundation.
Colony. These ants have large colonies, and there is usually one functional queen in a colony. Winged males and females swarm in June and July, but they may emerge almost any time of the year.
Habits. Natural food includes live and dead insects, honeydew, plant sap, and seeds. Indoors they forage for meat and grease. Nests are sometimes positioned between the wood sill and the top of the foundation wall, whether it is block or poured concrete.
Refuse expelled from the nest site includes fragments ofseeds, dead insects, and fine wood fibers. The presence of wood fibers can be alarming, but these ants do not infest wood.