CLOSED: An ant with wings!!??

Citrus Heights, CA

I am absolutely creeped out by these ants....They are dangling in my doorway between the living room and the outside. I opened the door this morning to see 10 or so dangling from spider webs (I think). My first thought was they got caught in a web and the spider will consume them once they die. This picture shows two of them dangling together and it looks like they're "petting" each other...they're probably trying to escape the web...or is this some kind of acrobatic mating ritual? My husband and I are pretty tall so there's a good chance we've walked right through these things before....I'm keeping my eyes open from now on!! They're black but I thought they had a bit of a red tinge to them...not evident in the photo. They're about the length of my pinky nail...big, for an ant! What is it and do I need to be worried? It's hard to get a good photo of these dangling oddities!!

Thumbnail by HeatherJoy
Citrus Heights, CA

Oh man...I just googled "ants with wings"....carpenter ants? They do a lot of damage to your home? Crap!! If this is what these are, crap!!! I found one inside so far...it was when I opened the dishwasher...one just appeared on the counter where the opening to the dishwasher is. We just bought this house less than a year ago...I'm learning a lot about bugs...some interesting...some not so much. :-(

Minot, ND

These do appear to be male carpenter ants.
See http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/carpant004.shtml for some suggestions for dealing with them.

Citrus Heights, CA

Thank you. This is one of those times when I wish I was wrong!

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