Tetramorium immigrans
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Tetramorium immigrans—also known as the immigrant pavement ant, pavement ant, and the sugar ant in parts of North America—is an ant native to Europe, which also occurs as an introduced pest in North America. Its common name comes from the fact that colonies in North America usually make their nests under pavement. This is one of the most commonly seen ants in North America, being well adapted to urban and suburban habitats. It is distinguished by a single pair of spines on the back, two nodes on the petiole, and grooves on the head and thorax.
Pavement ants have been studied on the International Space Station in 2014. The pavement ant is dark brown to blackish, and 2.5–4 millimeters (0.10–0.16 in) long. A colony is composed of workers, alates, drones (male ants), and a queen. Workers do have a small stinger, which can cause mild discomfort in humans but is essentially harmless. Alates, or new queen ants and drones, have wings, and are at least twice as large as the workers. Tetramorium nuptial flights occur in spring and summer; queens and drones leave the nest and find a mate. The drone's only job is to mate with the virgin queens. The dealate, or newly fertilized... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Immigrant Pavement Ant sighting in San Francisco on a given day, based on 211 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 90th most-seen of the 737 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March to June
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Immigrant Pavement Ant in San Francisco on a given day, against under 5% in July to February, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Immigrant Pavement Ant sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
16th of 17
Of the 17 cities where we can rate Immigrant Pavement Ant sightings, San Francisco ranks 16th at under 5%. The best odds are in Salt Lake City (United States, about 20%), Boston (United States, about 10%) and Philadelphia (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Formicidae
The closest relatives of the Immigrant Pavement Ant that you can see in San Francisco (family Formicidae, Ants) are Argentine Ant (about 10%) and American Winter Ant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Immigrant Pavement Ant is recorded against all the insects logged in San Francisco (211 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
