What are those winged ant looking things at night??

[The Quadfather]

I am being run out of my shop/garage by these darned bugs that are like a winged ant. The body is def. bigger than an ant, but similar. They have wings about 1" long. Every year this time of year they come out in FORCE. They like the lights in the garage, and are dying leaving wings everywhere. They fly very slow and stupidly.
Just curious what these are? It's not a crain fly (skeeter eater)

[Amx]

Big and black? Maybe flying carpenter ants that hatch and migrate to make a new nest.

[Amx]

These on the left?;

picture link

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AhO ... 20pictures

[BentRod]

termites

[The Quadfather]

Well, they are def. not carpenter ants. I also would not believe them to be termites, just because I see them every summer like this, and my house is still standing. We have never had a termite problem, actually I have never heard of termites in this part of the state. Although I may just be lucky in not having them I am attaching a pic. though of winged termites, it has the same type of wings, but not the antenae features.

We are actually in the backyard watching a movie on a giant screen. The flying critters are covering the screen, it's a mess.

[tnj8222]

Its either termites or ants. Females have wings and each one is a queen to be.

[curado]

termites for sure. are they redish in color?

[rjn cajun]

I`m also curious as to what they are? Never seen them before and I live in the woods. Looks like a cross breed between a termite and an ant. The one on the right definetly looks like a termite of some kind. I think Quad needs to put the bottle down and finish the movie.:geek:

[Amx]

The picture quad posted - those are both termites, the one on the right is a worker termite, and the one on the left is a 'flying to make a new nest potential queen' termite.

[Marc Martyn]

When you said "flies stupidly", that sounds like a caddis fly. The flying pattern is very erratic and they are easily attracted to lights. In certain areas of the country there are massive hatches of them. If they are caddis, they are perfectly harmless. Trout LOVE them![drool]

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/12/Insect ... addisflies

http://bugguide.net/node/view/5233

[BentRod]

Quad,
I get the flying termites in my back yard every year. Also do not have a problem in the house, just the decaying logs in the back yard. The termites are fairly easy to distinguish with the flat body and all four wings (two on each side) are long and all the same length. Like Curado mentioned, mine have reddish colored bodies. I've seen a few flying in the last few days. Oh, and they seem to fly until they hit something and then fall to the ground. I'd guess that is what you're seeing.

[MarkFromSea]

Termites! We get them thick over here south of Kenmore every year, lots of trees, O Denny Park, St Ed's Seminary. Someone told me that most of them are males. It's an annual event. They might be coming up out of Carkeek park or anywhere there is decaying wood, someone's wood pile, decaying wood and moisture is what they are looking for, I believe.

[racfish]

They look good to run a hook through it and cast them.

[BentRod]

They look good to run a hook through it and cast them.

Saw them flying around our neighborhood last night. I bet they're killer trout bait. Tried to find a fly pattern that was similar, but a quick google search didn't give me much. I did find this after a little investigating though.

flying termite pattern out of Australia, lol.


Anyone around here ever try matching the hatch on these?

[MarkFromSea]

They look good to run a hook through it and cast them.

Saw them flying around our neighborhood last night. I bet they're killer trout bait. Tried to find a fly pattern that was similar, but a quick google search didn't give me much. I did find this after a little investigating though.

flying termite pattern out of Australia, lol.


Anyone around here ever try matching the hatch on these?

About 35 years ago, Dad had some flies utilizing porcupine sub quills or some such, floated but no sharp point.

I knew it was rare then and probably more rare now. Might make a nice body to match a hatch if legal to possess porcupine parts today.. LOL I just don't know....

[GerryA]

In case you still haven't found out, they are termites. their wings fall off and they then go look for some delicious wood to chew on. they usually come out on warm evenings . If you live around fir trees, like I do, you get tons of them.

Gerry

[panfisher]

they get really bad here, I've actually have had to pull over after hitting a huge swarm of them and could not see. killed a few birds another time while driving as they were so intent on eating them.