Males and queen ants are produced at certain times of the year and these are the winged individuals, the so-called flying ants, which are common on thundery days in summer. The workers are about 2-5mm in length, almost exclusively black or black/brown in colour although the bases of the antennae, the tarsi, and the leg joints have a yellowish colour. The presumptive queens and males are larger in body size, 6.6-10mm and 3.5-4.7mm respectively, again prominently black but on emergence from the nest they have wings.
Ant societies are centred upon a complex nest that arises after the mated queen has established a smaller starter nest beneath the soil. The queen ant rears the first brood of larvae within the nest. These larvae mature then pupate to form the first cohort of worker ants. The colony then grows rapidly with the queen continuing to lay eggs which are tended and fed by the workers. The ants feed on nectar, seeds and small insects, aphid and coccid honeydew etc, and the nests can remain viable for many years.