After finding a number of new ants in my house, I set out liquid baits assuming that they were the same species as the last time I had ants. But alas, this were not odorous house ants.

They were also uninterested in any of the high-protein baits I set out, so I set out to try to identify them. Knowing that some species seasonally prefer protein, fats, or sugars, I set out several different foods on the floor to see what they were interested in. Oddly, the were completely uninterested in all the foods I tried. They did, however, swarm on a dead spider they found in a corner.

I tried my best to photograph them while unconstrained, but since there wasn’t any food I could reliably entice them with, it ended up being a pipe dream. Instead, I put down some rubber cement on a piece of paper and managed to get one trapped in it, which then allowed me to get close enough with the macro lens to take this shot:

Based on their erratic movements, the number of nodes, their size, their lack of worker size polymorphism, my best guess is a variety of crazy ant. Fortunately, the ants disappeared apparently of their own volition. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’ve improved my insect identification skills.