Talk:Pharaoh ant

Peer review
-I think the “Colony proliferation”, “Pheromones”, and “Foraging” sections could use links to other Wikipedia articles. There are certain words that could use more definition and would be more helpful to the reader. I added a few links for the following words: “budding”, “colony fragmentation”, “venom alkaloids”, and “insecticidal.” There are probabaly more to be added. -I thought the information was very clear and the language made it very easy for people to understand. -I thought that you variety of sources was very diverse and that made the articles more credible because the sources were cross-referenced. -I think that you are working on improving a section the colony interaction section is a good area. I think there can be more diverse sources and it’s a good place to elaborate because it’s an interesting section and could use more information. Hansika.n (talk) 01:48, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

The entry focuses on the species' interaction in relation to different castes within the colony's cycle and the individual's role in this process, but it may have also been beneficial to discuss predators and possible competitors for the same resources to see how this could affect behavior patterns. In addition, I would like to suggest the inclusion of a basic taxonomy and phylogeny section. Moreover, as this species is international, I thought it would be worthwhile for the entry to convey different aspects of distribution and elaborate on how the pharaoh ant is able to survive in so many different types of climates and conditions. I also think inclusion of more hyperlinks to other Wikipedia pages for unfamiliar terminology or definitions would be helpful for different kinds of readers as this article in general seems to be of very educated style and prose. Missmanasa (talk) 09:29, 10 September 2015 (UTC)

Though sexual reproduction is mentioned, inclusion of breeding traits that are considered advantageous for propagation of the ants’ genes is needed to understand the evolution and taxonomy of the species. Identifying unique characteristics of each sexes’ behavior helps explain the role of each sex in rearing progeny and their contribution in the colonies, allowing us to understand how individuals ensure their genes are propagated. Lastly, discussion of predators and possible competitors can give insight on behavior patterns, factors for population control, and adaptations for survival. Megxb (talk) 03:29, 11 September 2015 (UTC)

Worldwide?
Question: Do Pharaoh ants live worldwide, or just in Egypt:)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.94.232.137 (talk • contribs) 19:07, 25 June 2005


 * Idea comes to mind.. Bug Warfare! --Cyberman 00:04, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * One more thing.. this article looks totally ripped from this site:http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2136.html --Cyberman 00:07, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * Well I got 'em in Canada. HairyWombat (talk) 00:09, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Copyvio
From the prompting of Cyberman, I have placed a copyvio template on the page. It's a clear cut and paste, although it's done a bit discreetly (not a direct cut and paste, mix of many parts). &mdash; Ambush Commander (Talk) 00:36, Jun 26, 2005 (UTC)


 * I have begun work on a new article: Pharaoh ant/Temp. Contributions are greatly appreciated, since I have this unfortunante tendency to quote things verbatim when they're already presented in a form is very close to what we need. &mdash; Ambush Commander (Talk) 00:51, Jun 26, 2005 (UTC)


 * The temp page has been moved to the main article. RedWolf July 8, 2005 08:17 (UTC)

Eliminating these sort of ants
Could someone suggest a good insecticide to get rid of this annoying ant species ? Prunk (talk) 16:26, 25 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I have these ants too, and this page http://www.pestproducts.com/pharaohants.htm seems to recommend some decent products. After having them destroy all my food stuffs tonight, I'm sure I'll be researching the hell out of their elimination. Mizunori (talk) 01:38, 25 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Insecticides don't work well on these types of ants, due to their feeding and reproductive habits. A better strategy is to feed them a bait that they carry back to the nest and feed to their queens, destroying their reproductive capability as well as wiping out the workers over a period of several days.  Many people have reported good results with liquid baits made of boric acid powder (available from your local pharmacy), granulated table sugar and water.  One-quarter teaspoon boric acid, one tablespoon sugar and three tablespoons water is a good starting point, placed in shallow dishes where the ants are swarming. Using too much boric acid can make the bait bitter and repel the ants. The same bait works on Argentine ants, similar in size to pharaoh ants and having similar habits. As a matter of fact, I think the two Wikipedia articles should cross-link for this reason, as readers may mistake one species for the other. &mdash;QuicksilverT @ 23:25, 20 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Cross linked with Argentine ant article using "See also" sections. HairyWombat (talk) 03:57, 28 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Here's a mix that has worked: 80% finely ground, raw liver (bovine), 15% bread crumbs, 3% honey, 2% boric acid. Mix thoroughly, preferably in a mincer. Put mixture into 3" pieces of 1/2" plastic tubing, place baits on ants' paths, keep moist, replace bait after one week. Unused baits can be refrigerated or frozen. --Janke|Talk 06:07, 21 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Had an infestation in my apartment building recently; all 163 apartments had them. The management brought in professional exterminators who put down bait. It took about six months before they were all gone, with the exterminators renewing the bait every three months. So they are persistent little buggers, but they can be eliminated. HairyWombat (talk) 03:49, 27 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Renewing every three months? I.e. one exchange? Did you perchance mean weeks? --Janke|Talk 08:26, 27 October 2009 (UTC)


 * No, months. They renewed twice, once after three months and again after six months. At the second renewal (after six months) there were no ants left, but they were contracted to do it anyway. The ants were in the fabric of the building, rather than in any of the apartments, so the exterminators put bait under the sink in each kitchen, under the sink in each bathroom, and under the bath (via a ceiling hatch in the apartment below). This was so ants walking along the water and waste pipes would encounter them. At each location three types of bait were used. A bright green paste squirted onto the waste pipe, and two baits placed on the floor. The two floor baits used were Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait containing a transparent colourless liquid (Borax 5.4%), and Maxforce containing solid bait (fish meal with Hydramethylnon 0.9%). HairyWombat (talk) 00:05, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Life span
"The entire life cycle takes about 38 to 45 days" - Does this mean that the life expectancy of an ant is 38-45 days? This figure probably refers to worker ants; what is the life expectancy of queens? --Erel Segal (talk) 08:32, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Behavior subsection
I added the subsections: Nest Demographic, Mating, Queen-worker relationship and Colony Interaction. These subsections have information from published sources and the sources can be found in the references section. Pocketkings (talk) 04:51, 18 September 2013 (UTC)Sept 17, 2013

I edited the page for sentence structure. I focused on editing the behavior sections. For the most part the sections are very well written. I rearranged the sentences in the Washing section and also the Colony Proliferation section. [[User:kaijones5245|Kai Jones]}

In the "Nest demographic" section, it says "The pharaoh ant is a polygynous species that has a relatively low worker to queen ration of around 12.86. This allows the pharaoh ants to be able to exert social control over the size of the colony and the size of each caste." I don't understand this causal relationship and was wondering if someone could elaborate on that. I also made a small edit for a spelling error in this section. I added to the first sentence in "Reproduction" to say that the queen would mate outside of the colony for purposes of introducing genetic variety. Daniel Ouellette

Behavior sections
I reformatted a lot of this article and added quite a bit of information on behavior (1000 words and 10 references). I am researching social insects as part of an undergraduate ecology class at my university and edited this article for an assignment. I hope I have improved this article. Please contact me if you have any questions. Aschefkind (talk) 00:20, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
 * You need to address these two in-line comments: (Decay Rates) and (No entry)... --Janke|Talk 11:47, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Suggestions to get to GA
Thanks for your work on this one! I'm glad to see it nominated for GA, but it seems to me to need a little work before it'll be ready. The biggest issue I see is the lead, which doesn't seem to adequately summarize the article; ideally, the lead should at least touch on all of the article's sections, whereas the current lead only discusses geographic distribution, and gives information not found in the article's body. You can see the full policy if you're interested at WP:LEAD.

Second, there seem to be some uncited statements that will need citation per our policies on verification; a statement like "they possess on average 32 ommatidia", being a number, should probably be cited, or a statistic like " it takes the pharaoh ant about 38 to 45 days, depending on temperature and relative humidity." Argumentation like "The decision to wash, which takes energy and time, must have sufficient hygienic benefits to have evolved in this species" should also have inline citation to show that it's not original research. Hopefully these won't be difficult fixes to make, but the article is almost certain to fail GA if these issues aren't addressed.

Thanks again for the work to improve this one, and good luck with the review! -- Khazar2 (talk) 01:31, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Hi. Thanks for all the suggestions, and I apologize for my class overwhelming you with GA nominations. We are all new to the wikipedia community, but I hope you understand our good intentions. I have made many of the edits you had mentioned (removing uncited statements and extending the lead) and hope I have improved this article's chances for a GA nomination. Thanks again. Aschefkind (talk) 04:05, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Add more pictures?
Not sure if we're interested in more pictures of these little guys, but I have a few. If they're good enough to put up, great, if not, that's fine too.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/14sjnk0ebc6nqr4/PharaohAntScale.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/9jvulgxunvdr8ot/PharaohAnts2.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/bg7stqwh50bjsgh/PharaohAnts3.jpg?dl=0 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.170.131.177 (talk) 18:50, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

That was me, before I registered my account. Apparently I accidentally pulled those files from Dropbox. I'll find them in my archive folder and put them up onto the commons. If someone can drop me a message on what to do with them /after/ that, I would be appreciative. Maktao (talk) 20:00, 10 October 2016 (UTC)

Nesting
Not Inside,What Is Perfered nesting Medium?Dirt?Wood?Sand? PTasker15 (talk) 18:28, 24 April 2018 (UTC)