Mastodawn

For a couple years now, our house has seen these little visiting friends wandering through our space. They are tiny, quick, travel alone or in small groups, are elusive, and they don't eat much, so I've never gotten a photo of one before and don't worry about them enough to do anything. They seem to come in from my front yard where I suspect they nest, and enter our living room and my adjacent garage office under doors and walls. Would like to know what it is. Any guesses?
#ants #entomology

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J. Steven York 3d ago

Yes, I know this is a terrible picture. Here's a "zoom and enhance" (literally zoomed, but NOT enhanced) from the photo. This is complicated by how tiny they are. The SD card case I momentary contained this one in might as well be a terrarium, and despite it's being closed and locked, it found a crack to escape through no more than a minute after I took this.

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J. Steven York

They will crawl and explore on anything, including people. That's how I usually notice them. I find one crawling on my bare skin and feel it. Rarely bite or sting (only when they accidently get squeezed against skin, and I suspect that's a bite, not a sting). Never seen them swarm on a food source, though they'll show up in larger numbers if I accidently leave something tasty in the living room overnight.