Bug FAQBuren's Pyramid Ant
Dorymyrmex bureni · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Formicidae
Source: Wikipedia
Pyramid ants are small, orange-colored workers that move quickly and have curved hairs on their heads used to carry damp sand. They build shallow sand mounds with a single entrance on sandy soils of the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Workers are light orange, fast moving, and have curved head hairs for transporting damp sand beads.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure about 2 to 4 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Is it a pest in the house?
They are not considered indoor pests, so pesticide treatment is unnecessary.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
Unlike fire ants, they do not sting and are relatively harmless to humans.
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
Pesticides are not needed because they are not indoor pests.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They prefer sandy soils and make nests with a single crater-shaped sand mound entrance.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They hunt living insects, including other winged ants, and also collect honeydew from sap-sucking insects.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Colonies remain small in size.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Confusion with Dorymyrmex flavus may occur at the western edge of its range.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 16 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: endemic in United States; native in North America. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Are they a household pest?
No, they are not an indoor pest and do not require pesticide control.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find these ants?
They live in sandy soils of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, building small sand mounds with a single entrance.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Formicidae)
Eastern Black Carpenter AntCamponotus pennsylvanicusCan damage your home
Red Imported Fire AntSolenopsis invictaCan sting
American Winter AntPrenolepis imparis
Argentine AntLinepithema humileNuisance, not dangerous
Immigrant Pavement AntTetramorium immigransCan sting
Odorous House AntTapinoma sessileCan damage your homeSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorymyrmex_bureni
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.