Thief ant
The thief ant is a teeny tiny yellow ant, so small you can hardly see it. It got its name because it sneaks into other ants' nests and steals their food. It even sneaks into people's kitchens.
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Fun facts
It often builds tunnels that lead right into another ant colony, so it always has food nearby.
It is so small it can get into sealed food packets.
A queen can lay up to 387 eggs in one day.
A queen sometimes flies with a worker or two holding on to her, ready to help start a new nest.
It is also called the grease ant because it loves grease.
Most asked questions about Thief ant
?Why is it called a thief ant?
Because it lives next to other ants' nests and steals their food and babies.
?What do thief ants eat?
Greasy foods, meat, cheese and seeds, and the young of other ants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Solenopsis molesta
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Grease ant
Where the facts come from
- Solenopsis molesta (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by AntWeb.org. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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