Flying ants: what they are, and how to tell them from termites
Flying ants are young queens and males leaving the nest to mate. Winged termites do the same thing and look much alike, and those are the ones a house should worry about.
What flying ants are
Most of an ant colony is wingless workers. When the colony is ready, it raises winged queens and males, which leave the nest in large numbers in warm weather to mate and start new colonies. They are not interested in people; they are looking for a mate, and the males have no other job.
They fly when the weather suits them, warm and without wind, and the conditions that set them off differ from one kind of ant to the next. Soon after the flight, both ants and termites drop their wings, which is why you find wings on a windowsill and no insects.
Flying ant or winged termite
The three differences, drawn
If the wings are already off, the waist and the antennae still tell them apart.
What each means for the house
Winged termites, the gamu-gamo that swarm to lights, come from a termite colony. What finding them indoors means, and what to check next, is in gamu-gamo sa loob ng bahay, and treatment is on termite control and prevention.
Flying ants come from an ant nest. Spraying the ones you see does not reach it; a slow bait that workers carry back can reach the whole colony, queens included. What to do, and how to keep bait safe, is in how to get rid of ants, and the ant identifier helps name the kind. If they keep coming, book a visit through cockroach and ant control. We cover Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Tarlac and Olongapo.
Sources
- University of California IPM, Ants, read 26 September 2026
- Natural History Museum, London: Flying ant day, read 26 September 2026
Tell us what you have found
Send the pest, the town and roughly how long it has been going on. That is enough for us to say what the treatment would involve and what it depends on.