Recently, residents of New York City faced an unexpected insect crawling across their living spaces. This insect is nicknamed the ManhattAnt after being first seen in Manhattan, New York.
The official name for the ant species is Lasius emarginatus. Samantha Kennett, a graduate student from Kennesaw State University, found that the ant is not native to the United States. The Lasius emarginatus is a European immigrant that may have arrived in the United States by ship.
Katie Guhl was traveling to a wedding in New Orleans and a Memorial Day gathering in New Jersey. She said she had “left her apartment on East 81st street spotless” when she had left. However, when she returned home, she discovered swarms of ants in her kitchen. She stated that “there were no crumbs to be had.”
An irritated witness of the ant infestation wrote on Reddit, “Woke up this morning to [see] ants crawling around my living room. I live on the 3rd floor and have never had problems with any insects.” Another person added, “I worked in an apartment building, and the 25th floor had ants in midtown.”
After never having any problems with insects in her whole life, Melissa Russell Paige said, “They just [spontaneously] showed up one day. Never saw an ant even once [in my apartment].” Paige’s neighbor upstairs also had the same issue.
Kennett explains that these ants are not interested in human food. She said, “This is one of the things that I’m trying to figure out. When ants are living in really urban habitats, they tend to eat a lot of human foods and they’re able to shift their diets towards more human foods. But this ant, even though it’s living in the most urban habitat, does not appear to be consuming human foods.”
The ManhattAnt is not invincible. Liquid ant baits can kill the ant intruders very quickly. However, Jerry Walsh of Mayday Hardwar in Prospect Heights stated that he did not recommend the use of potent ant baits in the interior of a home. He said, “It’s a little too potent to use indoors because the ant does not drop dead on the spot. They will carry that poison wherever they travel. So, you don’t want that going over your clean dishware. You’ll think that you have a 24-hour stomach virus when indeed what you’re experiencing is a mild case of stomach poisoning.”
The official name for the ant species is Lasius emarginatus. Samantha Kennett, a graduate student from Kennesaw State University, found that the ant is not native to the United States. The Lasius emarginatus is a European immigrant that may have arrived in the United States by ship.
Katie Guhl was traveling to a wedding in New Orleans and a Memorial Day gathering in New Jersey. She said she had “left her apartment on East 81st street spotless” when she had left. However, when she returned home, she discovered swarms of ants in her kitchen. She stated that “there were no crumbs to be had.”
An irritated witness of the ant infestation wrote on Reddit, “Woke up this morning to [see] ants crawling around my living room. I live on the 3rd floor and have never had problems with any insects.” Another person added, “I worked in an apartment building, and the 25th floor had ants in midtown.”
After never having any problems with insects in her whole life, Melissa Russell Paige said, “They just [spontaneously] showed up one day. Never saw an ant even once [in my apartment].” Paige’s neighbor upstairs also had the same issue.
Kennett explains that these ants are not interested in human food. She said, “This is one of the things that I’m trying to figure out. When ants are living in really urban habitats, they tend to eat a lot of human foods and they’re able to shift their diets towards more human foods. But this ant, even though it’s living in the most urban habitat, does not appear to be consuming human foods.”
The ManhattAnt is not invincible. Liquid ant baits can kill the ant intruders very quickly. However, Jerry Walsh of Mayday Hardwar in Prospect Heights stated that he did not recommend the use of potent ant baits in the interior of a home. He said, “It’s a little too potent to use indoors because the ant does not drop dead on the spot. They will carry that poison wherever they travel. So, you don’t want that going over your clean dishware. You’ll think that you have a 24-hour stomach virus when indeed what you’re experiencing is a mild case of stomach poisoning.”
