Final answer:
In Florida, pharaoh ants are difficult to control because their nests are difficult to locate. Their complex colony organization and communication through pheromones help them to evade standard control methods, and their habit of budding can create new colonies when disturbed.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Florida, controlling pharaoh ants can be difficult because their nests are difficult to locate. Pharaoh ants are a species that live in large colonies, which means they do exist in large numbers. However, the challenge comes from the way they organize their colonies and communicate. Worker ants have various responsibilities including foraging for food, maintaining the nest, and caring for larvae. These ants use pheromones for communication, which helps them efficiently operate as a unit and remain hidden from predators and humans trying to control them.
The ability of pharaoh ants to create multiple nests makes it harder to eradicate them completely. Intervention methods may cause these ants to scatter and form new nests elsewhere, in a process called budding. In the diverse ecosystems of the southeastern United States, where these ants are considered a pest, their resilience and adaptability make control efforts more challenging.