Ants usually live on the ground in parks or yards, where there is soil, and are rarely found in urban buildings. However, an invasive species of ant, Lasius emarginatus, nicknamed the “ManhattAnt,” has recently made an unexpected appearance in many New York City apartments.
Melissa Russell Paige, who lives in Brooklyn, found ants scurrying in her room for the first time in the eight years she has lived in her apartment.
“They just showed up one day,” says Paige.
Katie Guhl, a resident of Manhattan, also found a throng of ants in her New York City apartment kitchen. Dobai Stewart, a reporter for the New York Times, found ants in the living room of her Manhattan apartment and under her couch.
The ant invading these apartments is the ManhattAnt. The ants may have been brought to New York City by ships from Europe, where they are a native species. Since then, they have proliferated in the city and have been spotted everywhere, including on Broadway and in Times Square. The ants have also spread into New Jersey and Long Island. These insects love to climb, as they forage for food high up in trees, and march to the upper floors of apartment buildings.
Dr. Rob Dunn, a professor of ecology at North Carolina State University, and his team were the first to discover the ManhattAnt in New York City, in 2011. Dunn believes the ants won’t be permanent residents in the apartments. Instead, he thinks, the ants are just looking for water and will eventually nest on the ground.
Samantha Kennet, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University who studies the ManhattAnt, says the ants are not coming to apartments for food.
“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,” Kennet says. “But this ant, even though it’s living in the most urban habitat, does not appear to be consuming human foods.”
Instead, the ManhattAnt eats other dead insects, as well as a sticky-sweet liquid called honeydew (not the melon).
Of course, apartment-invading ants aren’t anything new. Jesse Scavella, who works at Evergreen Eco Pest Control, says that ants are “one of the more consistent pests” in New York, and isn’t convinced that anything out of the ordinary is happening.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/nyregion/in-nyc-apartments-the-ants-go-marching-
Melissa Russell Paige, who lives in Brooklyn, found ants scurrying in her room for the first time in the eight years she has lived in her apartment.
“They just showed up one day,” says Paige.
Katie Guhl, a resident of Manhattan, also found a throng of ants in her New York City apartment kitchen. Dobai Stewart, a reporter for the New York Times, found ants in the living room of her Manhattan apartment and under her couch.
The ant invading these apartments is the ManhattAnt. The ants may have been brought to New York City by ships from Europe, where they are a native species. Since then, they have proliferated in the city and have been spotted everywhere, including on Broadway and in Times Square. The ants have also spread into New Jersey and Long Island. These insects love to climb, as they forage for food high up in trees, and march to the upper floors of apartment buildings.
Dr. Rob Dunn, a professor of ecology at North Carolina State University, and his team were the first to discover the ManhattAnt in New York City, in 2011. Dunn believes the ants won’t be permanent residents in the apartments. Instead, he thinks, the ants are just looking for water and will eventually nest on the ground.
Samantha Kennet, a graduate student at Kennesaw State University who studies the ManhattAnt, says the ants are not coming to apartments for food.
“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,” Kennet says. “But this ant, even though it’s living in the most urban habitat, does not appear to be consuming human foods.”
Instead, the ManhattAnt eats other dead insects, as well as a sticky-sweet liquid called honeydew (not the melon).
Of course, apartment-invading ants aren’t anything new. Jesse Scavella, who works at Evergreen Eco Pest Control, says that ants are “one of the more consistent pests” in New York, and isn’t convinced that anything out of the ordinary is happening.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/nyregion/in-nyc-apartments-the-ants-go-marching-
