I live in Las Vegas and had a swarm of flying ants or termites appear inside the addition of my house. They must have come out of the wall or baseboard trim. They numbered over a hundred. Based on photos with slightly lower resolution than what I posted here, a local pest control company told me I had swarming red harvester ants (another company told me I am dealing with drywood termites and the only solution is to tent and fumigate my home, but they seemed to jump to that conclusion without examining anything). These winged ants / termites appeared in early August after a storm. But when I examine a single alate, it seems to have two classic features of a termite: four equal sized wings and no apparent waist in the body. They look similar to photos of subterranean termites that I find online. I read that drywood termites have swarms numbering under a hundred, so that is another reason why I thought this is likely to be a subterranean termite. Is it possible to tell the difference based on these photos? They are 3/8 of an inch long with wings and 1/8 of an inch without wings. I only have dried-up samples and I can't make out the shape of the antennaes or the exact features in the wings. I haven't been able to find a good photo of an actual winged red harvester ant, which would make me more comfortable to conclude that the information I got from a professional is not correct.
