Honeydew Insects on Grapefruit

• Insects that produce honeydew for ants are aphids, scale, white fly and mealy bugs. All these insects destroy your plants and will attract ants to your grapefruit tree. These insects attach themselves to a plant to suck out the juices. If left alone, the plant will wilt and die. A telltale sign that you have these insects is the presence of ants. Other signs are sooty mold, leaf curl and discolorations in the stem. Sooty mold is black and is byproduct of the sucking insects.
  
  In the case of ants that appear on grapefruit trees and other agricultural plants, these ants are pests because they are aiding the insects that are feeding on the grapefruit tree. The ants kill any beneficial insects such as lacewings and lady beetles trying to eat the sucking insects.
  
  

Ghost Ants

• Ghost ants (Tapinoma melancoephalum) have black heads, and the rest of their bodies is translucent. This type of ant has large colonies with some having more then one queen. The ant is a tropical species originally from Africa or Asia. Colonies in the United States frequent the state of Florida. These ants are very tiny--around 0.05 inches long. They are very fond of honeydew-extracting insects and will tend them and protect them from predators.
  
  

Argentine Ants

• The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) is a small brown ant that is 1/10 inch long. Their bodies are hairless, and they have long antennae and large eyes. This species likes warm climates and does not tolerate the cold. The Argentine ant is very damaging to humans and ecosystems because it is so invasive--it kills off all the insects in the area. This throws the ecosystem off-balance affecting larger species that depend on those insects for food. These ants have more than one queen and multiply so much that it is hard to get rid of them. Honeydew is their favorite food, with 70 percent of their diet consisting of it. These ants kill any insects that try to steal their honey.
  
  

White-Footed Ants

• White-footed ants are major pest in Florida. They are 1/10 to 1/8 inch long. Black to brownish in appearance, the white-footed ant is so named because the lower leg is yellowish-white. This pest is originally from Indonesia. It is hard to get rid of because it forms large colonies that have up to 3 million ants. White-footed ants' main food is honeydew and nectar from plants. The problem with these ants is that they nest aboveground within structures.
  
  

Common Black Ant

• The common black ant (lasius niger) is found in gardens, in the structure of houses, and under sidewalk and rocks. It has a single queen and is widely found all over Europe and parts of North America. Each nest contains around 15,000 ants. The ant is about 2/10 inch long. Its main food in nature is nectar or honeydew from aphids.