Oklahoma Ant ID Guide: Common Ants in Oklahoma, With Photos

The ants you are most likely to find in an Oklahoma home are odorous house ants, little black ants, pavement ants, pharaoh ants, acrobat ants and carpenter ants. Outdoors, the list adds harvester ants, field ants, big-headed ants, yellow citronella ants and, mainly in the southern half of the state, red imported fire ants. Most of them are a nuisance and nothing more. Two groups deserve more attention: carpenter ants, which hollow out damp or damaged wood, and the stinging ants, fire ants and harvester ants. This guide shows how to tell them apart, which ones bite or sting, and what to do about each.

Oklahoma ants at a glance

Ant	Size	Color	Where you see it	Bites or stings?
Odorous house ant	About 1/8 inch	Brown to black	Kitchens, bathrooms, near water pipes; soil under objects outside	No
Little black ant	About 1/16 inch	Shiny black	Lawns, under stones and bricks; wall voids and under carpet indoors	Too small to matter
Pavement ant	About 1/8 inch	Dark brown to black	Sidewalk and slab cracks, small piles of sand by the foundation	Has a stinger, rarely a problem
Pharaoh ant	About 1/16 inch	Yellow to reddish brown	Warm, hidden spots indoors, all year	No
Acrobat ant	Small	Light brown to brownish black	Stumps, logs, door and window frames, insulation	Can bite; minor
Carpenter ant	1/4 to 1/2 inch	Black, or black and dull red	Damp or damaged wood, trees, firewood	Bites if handled
Red imported fire ant	1/8 to 1/4 inch	Dark reddish brown	Mounds in sunny lawns, pastures and parks	Yes, painful stings
Harvester ant	Large	Red	A single hole in a bare, cleared circle of ground	Yes, a powerful sting
Citronella (yellow) ant	About 1/6 inch	Light yellow to reddish brown	Underground; swarms in late summer	No

How to identify an ant

Three things narrow it down quickly. First, size, and whether every ant in the trail is the same size. Carpenter ants come in several sizes in one colony, while pharaoh, little black and acrobat ant workers are all about the same. Second, color. Third, where you found them and what they were eating, because sweets, grease and protein draw different species.

If the ants have wings, make sure they are ants and not termites. Oklahoma State University Extension gives three tells: ants have a thin, pinched waist and termites do not; ants have elbowed antennae while termite antennae are straight; and an ant's hind wings are smaller than its front wings, while all four termite wings are about the same size. Our ants vs termites guide has side-by-side photos.

Identify an Oklahoma ant by color

What you saw	Most likely
Big black ants, several sizes, indoors or on trees	Carpenter ant
Red and black ants, large	Carpenter ant (some are black and dull red) or a field ant
Red ants on a dirt mound in the lawn, swarming when disturbed	Fire ant
Big red ants around a bare circle of ground	Harvester ant
Tiny red or yellow ants indoors	Pharaoh ant
Tiny shiny black ants	Little black ant
Small brown ants on the counter, smell bad when crushed	Odorous house ant
Small dark ants and sand piles along the slab or driveway	Pavement ant
Brown ants that raise their rear end over their back	Acrobat ant
Yellow ants with smoky wings coming up in late summer, lemony smell	Citronella ant

Ants that come indoors

Odorous house ant

Odorous house ants are among the most common ants trailing across Oklahoma kitchen counters. Workers are about 1/8 inch long and brown to black. Crush one and you will notice the smell that gives them their name, usually described as rotten coconut. They feed on sweets, especially honeydew from aphids outdoors, and also take meat and grease. Outside, they nest in soil under almost anything: stones, logs, landscape blocks and fallen limbs. Indoors, they nest in wall voids and around water pipes and water heaters, which is why they often turn up in kitchens and bathrooms after a rain. Because the nest is hidden, sprays on the trail do little. Baits that the workers carry home work far better.

Little black ant

Little black ants are tiny, about 1/16 inch, and shiny black. They nest in open soil in lawns and under stones, bricks and wood outdoors, and in wall voids, masonry, woodwork and under carpets indoors. Workers hunt other insects and collect honeydew. They do have a stinger, but they are too small to bother people. Look for their thin trails running from a crack in the foundation or a baseboard to food.

Pavement ant

Pavement ants are about 1/10 to 1/8 inch long and dark brown to black, with fine parallel grooves on the head and the middle section of the body. Penn State Extension notes most colonies live under sidewalks, building slabs and large rocks, and the tell is small piles of sand along a slab crack or the top of a foundation wall, where the ants dump soil from the nest. They eat almost anything: sweets, grease, dead insects and seeds. Swarmers usually appear in spring but can come out in a heated building in winter.

Pharaoh ant

Pharaoh ants are tiny, about 1/16 inch, and golden yellow to reddish brown. They live almost entirely indoors in heated buildings, in wall voids, cabinets, behind baseboards and near warm appliances. A single infestation can include many nests and many queens. Two things make them different from other house ants. First, they are a known problem in hospitals, where Ohio State University Extension says they can carry germs on their bodies and contaminate sterile supplies. Second, repellent sprays and bug bombs make them worse by scattering the colony into new nests, a process called budding. They are controlled with baits placed throughout the building, and that can take months.

Acrobat ant

Acrobat ants are small, light brown to brownish black ants with a heart-shaped abdomen when you look down on them. When disturbed, they raise that abdomen up over their back, the acrobatic pose that gives them their name. Outdoors they nest in decaying stumps, fallen trees and limbs. Indoors they move into voids around door and window frames and into insulation, often where wood has been damaged by moisture. They can bite, but it is minor.

Carpenter ant

Carpenter ants are the biggest ants most Oklahomans see. Workers range from about 1/4 to 1/2 inch and come in several sizes in the same colony. They can be solid black, black and dull red, or reddish orange, and in profile the middle of the body is evenly rounded. They do not eat wood. They carve smooth tunnels in damp, soft or decaying wood to nest, pushing out piles of wood shavings. The main colony usually lives outdoors in a tree, stump or woodpile, and a nest inside the house is usually tied to a leak. They bite if handled. Read more in our carpenter ant guide.

Ants in the yard

Red imported fire ant

Red imported fire ants are an invasive species from South America. Workers are about 1/8 to 1/4 inch and dark reddish brown, in mixed sizes. Oklahoma State University reports widespread, active infestations along the southern and southeastern counties, from Love County east to McCurtain County, and 21 counties are under federal fire ant quarantine. Smaller, isolated infestations have turned up as far north as Tulsa and Payne counties, usually in towns. Fire ants also look a lot like the native southern fire ant, and OSU notes the two are hard to tell apart.

They build dirt mounds in open, sunny ground: lawns, parks, pastures and fields. In clay soil a mound can reach about a foot high, and in sandy soil mounds are flatter and easy to miss. Disturb one and the workers pour out, grip the skin with their jaws and sting repeatedly. The stings burn and, a day or two later, leave white pustules. See ant bites and stings for first aid.

Harvester ant

Harvester ants are large red ants that clear a bare, circular patch of ground around a single nest opening. Texas A&M entomologists put the typical cleared area at about 12 feet across, though it ranges from 3 to 35 feet. Workers collect and store seeds as their main food. They have a powerful sting, and Texas A&M notes that people playing in lawns and city parks are the ones most often stung.

Field ants

Field ants belong to the genus Formica, a large group that includes mound-building and thatching ants. They are medium to large, black, brown, red, or red and black, and are often mistaken for carpenter ants. They nest in soil in sunny, open areas, sometimes building visible mounds, and rarely set up colonies inside a house. They will bite if the nest is disturbed.

Big-headed ants

Big-headed ants get their name from the soldiers, which have heads far too large for their bodies. The smaller workers look like ordinary small brown ants. They nest in soil near foundations, under stones and in mulch, and forage indoors for protein and grease, but they seldom nest inside.

Citronella (yellow) ants

If yellowish ants with smoky wings come pouring out of a crack or a basement wall in mid to late summer, you are probably looking at citronella ants, not termites. Penn State Extension says they are frequently mistaken for termites when they swarm into homes. Workers are about 1/6 inch, light yellow to reddish brown, and give off a lemon or citronella smell when crushed. They live underground and feed on honeydew from aphids and mealybugs on plant roots. They do not nest in the house, damage wood or get into food, so they are a nuisance only. Older posts on this site called them yellow meadow ants, which is a European species.

Are the ants inside different from the ants outside?

Partly. A few species, like pharaoh ants, live almost entirely inside heated buildings. Most of the ants you find indoors, though, are the same species that live in your yard: odorous house ants, little black ants, pavement ants, acrobat ants and carpenter ants all nest outdoors and move in when they find food, water or a sheltered nest site. That is why sealing gaps and fixing leaks matters as much as treating the trail on the counter. Ants that forage indoors are drawn to sugar, grease and moisture, while many outdoor ants feed mostly on other insects, seeds and honeydew.

What ants do in winter

Ants are cold-blooded, so as Oklahoma cools off in the fall they slow down and pull back into the nest, deeper in the soil, under rocks or inside logs and bark. The colony lives on food stored and fat built up during the fall and huddles around the queen. On warm winter days you may see a few foragers. In spring, scouts find food and lay scent trails that bring the rest of the colony, which is why ants seem to show up all at once in March and April. Ants nesting inside a heated home, such as pharaoh ants or carpenter ants in a damp wall, can stay active all winter.

Our post on starting ant control in March explains how to get ahead of the spring rush.

Are ants good for anything?

Outdoors, yes. Ant tunnels loosen and aerate soil and let water soak in. Ants carry food and waste underground, which recycles nutrients, and many plants rely on ants to carry and bury their seeds. Many ants also prey on other insects. That is why the goal is not to wipe out every ant on the property. It is to keep them out of the house and away from the places where people and pets get stung.

When to call an ant exterminator

• You see large black ants indoors, especially winged ones in spring, or piles of wood shavings. That points to carpenter ants.
• Tiny yellow or red ants are spreading through the house after you sprayed. That points to pharaoh ants.
• Fire ant mounds are near the house, a play area or a garden.
• Ant trails keep coming back no matter how much you clean.

Ant control from Emtec Pest Control

Getting rid of ants starts with knowing which ant you have, because the right bait, the right nest treatment and the right repairs are different for each one. Since 1979, Emtec Pest Control has been the ant exterminator for homes and businesses in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Owasso, Jenks, Bixby, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Stillwater, Oklahoma City and Edmond. Our technicians identify the species, find where the ants are nesting and getting in, and treat the colony instead of just the trail. Learn about our ant control service and preventative pest control, or contact us to schedule an inspection.