Bug FAQAllegheny Mound Ant
Formica exsectoides · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Formicidae
Source: Wikipedia
Allegheny mound ants have red-orange heads and thoraxes with black-brown gasters and build large solar mounds. They hunt arthropods, collect aphid honeydew, mature in 2.5 to 3 months, and have multiple queens. If a mound is disturbed they become aggressive and will bite, and their mounds can cause lesions on small trees.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The head and thorax are red-orange while the gaster is black-brown. Members of Formica taste citrus because they produce formic acid.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
Mounds are linked to deep constriction lesions on the stems of small hardwood and conifer trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
They will bite when their mound is disturbed.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They construct large mounds that act as solar incubators for their brood.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They hunt various arthropods for protein and harvest aphid honeydew for sugars.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Development from egg to adult takes about 2.5 to 3 months. Colonies have several queens rather than a single one.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
They are native to the Atlantic region of North America. Their range extends from Nova Scotia down to Georgia.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 28 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Massachusetts, Ohio, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Maine.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What do they look like?
Their head and thorax are red-orange and the gaster is black-brown.
Source: Wikipedia
What damage do they cause to trees?
Mounds can cause deep constriction lesions on the main stems of small hardwood and conifer trees.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Formicidae)
Eastern Black Carpenter AntCamponotus pennsylvanicusCan damage your home
Red Imported Fire AntSolenopsis invictaCan sting
American Winter AntPrenolepis imparis
Argentine AntLinepithema humileNuisance, not dangerous
Immigrant Pavement AntTetramorium immigransCan sting
Odorous House AntTapinoma sessileCan damage your homeSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_mound_ant
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.