A completely unique ant crawled through a Manhattan building, scavenging for water. Only this time, it’s scavenging on the 25th floor of the building instead of the first. This ant is flourishing in urban areas.
In N.Y.C, ants have been crawling around from April to June. They were known to invade the homes of people, going up as high as the 25th floor of an apartment. These ants were identified as Lasius emarginatus, and were soon nicknamed by the people of N.Y.C as “Manhattants.”
This was strange, as the ant doesn’t prefer to live in high grounds, unlike the commonly found cockroach. It rather prefers to live in low level areas, going into the dirt or soil. There was an explanation saying ants from Europe might have made their way to N.Y.C, specifically going into rooms far from the ground.
Katie Ghul, someone who found these ants in her home, left her house spotless when leaving for a wedding in New Orleans, and a Memorial Day gathering. She became irate when she came back, seeing her once spotless home become completely invaded by ants. “There were no crumbs to be had,” she said, also saying it was her first time seeing ants in her 6th floor apartment.
Reddit users have complained about these ants too, with one saying they woke up and found ants in their living room, and they hadn’t had this experience before. Another commented, “I worked in an apartment building, and the 25th floor had ants in midtown.”
After these posts, someone piped up with their finding, saying that the same apartment room they lived in for 8 years that never housed an ant was suddenly swarmed. She sent three photos of liquid ant baits that attracted swarms of ants, leaving only their remains as they died. Her neighbor living upstairs had also said that they had also had ants.
Soon, a reporter said that the ants appeared on the 5th floor of the building she lived in, marching across a windowsill. They soon were spotted in a single file line, parading through the living room, but soon were content with living under the couch.
These ants haven’t been going around without someone studying them. Samantha Kennet, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in South Georgia, studies urban ant ecology. She studies one species of ant specifically, the Lasius emarginatus, the same ant that was invading the homes of people in N.Y.C. Her research showed that the ants were from Europe, being first spotted in New York in 2011, and they liked to move upward, explaining why they were found in high places. They were also said to not be adapted to human foods, unlike other ants who change their food from ant food to ours.
Another researcher, Dr. Rob Dunn, a professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, claimed that the ants invading the homes of New Yorkers were just scavenging for water. To everyone’s relief, after researching the ant he said the ants live in natural habitats, so they wouldn’t stick around their houses for too long. They only frequent in the months from April to June, so don’t worry, your house will be clean and spotless once it’s July!
In N.Y.C, ants have been crawling around from April to June. They were known to invade the homes of people, going up as high as the 25th floor of an apartment. These ants were identified as Lasius emarginatus, and were soon nicknamed by the people of N.Y.C as “Manhattants.”
This was strange, as the ant doesn’t prefer to live in high grounds, unlike the commonly found cockroach. It rather prefers to live in low level areas, going into the dirt or soil. There was an explanation saying ants from Europe might have made their way to N.Y.C, specifically going into rooms far from the ground.
Katie Ghul, someone who found these ants in her home, left her house spotless when leaving for a wedding in New Orleans, and a Memorial Day gathering. She became irate when she came back, seeing her once spotless home become completely invaded by ants. “There were no crumbs to be had,” she said, also saying it was her first time seeing ants in her 6th floor apartment.
Reddit users have complained about these ants too, with one saying they woke up and found ants in their living room, and they hadn’t had this experience before. Another commented, “I worked in an apartment building, and the 25th floor had ants in midtown.”
After these posts, someone piped up with their finding, saying that the same apartment room they lived in for 8 years that never housed an ant was suddenly swarmed. She sent three photos of liquid ant baits that attracted swarms of ants, leaving only their remains as they died. Her neighbor living upstairs had also said that they had also had ants.
Soon, a reporter said that the ants appeared on the 5th floor of the building she lived in, marching across a windowsill. They soon were spotted in a single file line, parading through the living room, but soon were content with living under the couch.
These ants haven’t been going around without someone studying them. Samantha Kennet, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in South Georgia, studies urban ant ecology. She studies one species of ant specifically, the Lasius emarginatus, the same ant that was invading the homes of people in N.Y.C. Her research showed that the ants were from Europe, being first spotted in New York in 2011, and they liked to move upward, explaining why they were found in high places. They were also said to not be adapted to human foods, unlike other ants who change their food from ant food to ours.
Another researcher, Dr. Rob Dunn, a professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University, claimed that the ants invading the homes of New Yorkers were just scavenging for water. To everyone’s relief, after researching the ant he said the ants live in natural habitats, so they wouldn’t stick around their houses for too long. They only frequent in the months from April to June, so don’t worry, your house will be clean and spotless once it’s July!
