Woodland Fuzzy Ant

Lasius americanus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Formicidae

Also called: Cornfield Ant

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Woodland Fuzzy Ant
Photo: Bill Keim, CC BY

Workers are dusty brown with lighter, semi-translucent legs. Their antennae lack erect setae and the propodeum and back legs have few hairs near the base. They live in temperate forests and woodlands of southern Canada and the eastern United States, often under rotting wood or in trees.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Antennae have no erect setae and the propodeum and hind legs show only a few basal hairs.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Native to North America, especially southern Canada and the eastern United States.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

Previously grouped with Lasius niger and called Lasius alienus until being recognized as a separate species in 2018.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 45 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Virginia, Michigan.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Woodland Fuzzy Ant photo 3
Photo: Emmett Collins-Sussman, CC BY
Woodland Fuzzy Ant photo 4
Photo: Connor Cashman, CC BY
Woodland Fuzzy Ant photo 5
Photo: Jonghyun Park, CC BY
Woodland Fuzzy Ant photo 6
Photo: beardicus, CC BY

Same family (Formicidae)

Eastern Black Carpenter AntEastern Black Carpenter AntCamponotus pennsylvanicusCan damage your homeRed Imported Fire AntRed Imported Fire AntSolenopsis invictaCan stingAmerican Winter AntAmerican Winter AntPrenolepis imparisArgentine AntArgentine AntLinepithema humileNuisance, not dangerousImmigrant Pavement AntImmigrant Pavement AntTetramorium immigransCan stingOdorous House AntOdorous House AntTapinoma sessileCan damage your home

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasius_americanus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.