Help me ID these Big Freaking Ants

[Totenkampf]

I walked outside to see these things swarming, the queens are 2.5 inches including wings and the drones are an inch smaller. the worker ants from the mount are only 1/8 to 1/4 inch and i have never seen such a disproportionate size! i never even knew the ants where living under a shed at the house since there are no outward signs of a mound. They are not carpenter ants and dont appear to be texas leafcutters...any ideas? Oh, and Raid Max just makes em wet, not dead. funny thing is that they werent flying away and many seemed to want back into the mound where the holes had erupted. i have lived in this area for 40 years and never seen these...
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[sunkenmetal]

fire ants?

[mnemenoi]

Carpenter ants

[sunkenmetal]

Need it nuke from orbit

[Totenkampf]

they are not carpenters nor fire ants, i have seen both of those swarm. the drones are larger than red wasps and the queens are much bigger.

[sunkenmetal]

termites?

[barberking12]

termites?

+1

[aquabee]

Termites! **shudder**

[mgarrido]

Termites

[TonyO]

Termite workers are white with tiny little eyes, if any eyes at all. Also, winged termites will not have a narrowed "waist." If there is an area where it narrows between the thorax and abdomen, then it is a member of the Suborder Apocrita of the Order Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, sawflies). Termites belong to a different group altogether. That's how you can distinguish between the two groups.

I didn't look at the pics very closely (on my phone), but given the size, it could be a species of Camponotus, but I think it might be Atta texana. I wonder if there are males in there, because it seems about the time for nuptial flights to take place... of course, my timing may be off (and my ID, as well) because I haven't been as observant of these things since I moved to Texas and hae switched from field work to a lab. If it is the leafcutters, the entire area under your shed is probably a nest with a big fungus garden.

[aquabee]

Go entomology!

[Totenkampf]

Termite workers are white with tiny little eyes, if any eyes at all. Also, winged termites will not have a narrowed "waist." If there is an area where it narrows between the thorax and abdomen, then it is a member of the Suborder Apocrita of the Order Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, sawflies). Termites belong to a different group altogether. That's how you can distinguish between the two groups.

I didn't look at the pics very closely (on my phone), but given the size, it could be a species of Camponotus, but I think it might be Atta texana. I wonder if there are males in there, because it seems about the time for nuptial flights to take place... of course, my timing may be off (and my ID, as well) because I haven't been as observant of these things since I moved to Texas and hae switched from field work to a lab. If it is the leafcutters, the entire area under your shed is probably a nest with a big fungus garden.

I agree, definately not termites...i was aware of the body segment difference as well. A.texana is supposed to have three horns or spikes on their back? I did not see this on the queens and drones but i did not examine the workers too closely. They didnt have overly big mandibles like many leafcutters do though. If it doesnt show up well in the pics, the ant bodies are a deep purplish color. I went to the TAMU website because they do alot of reseach on ants but they didnt have any good pictures of queens and drones from the Red Harvesters and Crazy ant types.

[barberking12]

termites

[Totenkampf]

not termites, they are definately ants. i used to hunt termites for frog food so i do know the difference. they are also 100x bigger than a termite.

[sunkenmetal]

Feed to your fish. If your fish eat them then they are fish food ants.