Hello Erin

These do not appear to be termites. They may be the winged life stage of ants. Your pictures are blurry but the insects appear to have sharp bends in their antennae, two short wings plus two longer wings. I cannot see the “waist” but if it is narrow then these are ants. See the illustrations in the following links.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/winged-carpenter-ants

To correctly ID them we need clear well-lighted pictures of whole insects, preferably from a couple different angles You may take some pictures again, with a coin or something in the picture for scale, and lay the dead insects out with no covering on them. ( don’t try to get too close as a blurry picture can not be ID’d.) We need to see antennae, wings and the whole body of the insect.

An alternative is to collect several whole dead insects and place in a waterproof vial with some isopropyl alcohol. Mail the samples to MSU Plant and Pest Diagnostics lab for identification. There is a fee for the service. Please see complete directions, sample submission form and fee on their website. https://www.canr.msu.edu/pestid/

Here are some good identification tools for you about termites. You will see that they are a different shape, have a ‘thick waist’ and their wings are all the same length. Their antennae are straight or curved but do not have a sharp bend in them.

https://extension.unh.edu/resource/carpenter-ants-fact-sheet

https://extension.umd.edu/resource/termites/

If these are carpenter ants you will want to look for places in your patio that are consistently wet or any rotting wood, which is attractive to carpenter ants.

Hi Erin,

The links provided do have control options in them.

The one from MSU has this—

“When they do nest indoors, they prefer an enclosed space with wood that remains wet or damp, more or less, or a permanent basis. Carpenter ants are attracted to excessive moisture conditions around windows, doors, showers, bathtubs, dishwashers, leaky pipes and drains, and under leaky roof shingles. They have also been found in dry areas such as hollow-core doors and false beams, and blue board foam insulation.

The best method of control is to locate the nest and treat it directly with Dursban (Ortho Home Pest Insect Control) or other ant killer registered for indoor use. Make any repairs, if necessary, to keep the area dry. Finding the nest can be difficult since carpenter ant are most active at night. Begin looking in the rooms where the greatest numbers are found and observe where they go or come from. Look for accumulations of coarse sawdust and dead ants. Try mixing 2 oz. (1/4 cup) of grape or apple mint jelly with 1 teaspoon of ground up dried pet food and use this as a bait to get them feeding and carrying food back to the nest. Put a teaspoon of the bait on a jar lid or piece of foil and place out of the reach of children and pets, near where you see the ants. If the nest cannot be found, poison the bait by adding 1/2 teaspoon of boric acid powder to the mixture. Bait the ants for 4 to 6 weeks, replacing the bait as it dries out.”

The one from univ. of New Hampshire has this—

“

• Monitoring - To control carpenter ants, it is essential to locate and apply the chemical control directly to the nest. The presence of “sawdust” does not prove you have found the nest; it only suggests carpenter ant activity. Look in places most likely to harbor moist wood, such as porch floors and columns, eaves, sills, roof joints, and in the wood below leaking roof gutters. You can recognize the nest as the place where you find ant pupae and larvae. In some situations, it may be possible to eliminate the nest by removing the wood it is in. When you disturb a nest, the ants quickly carry the white, oval pupae (often mistaken for eggs) and the white, worm-like larvae to safety.

By watching the activities of worker ants you can often discover their avenues of entrance into walls and moldings. Sometimes, by feeling with your hand, you can detect an increase in temperature in the wood where the nest is located. Outdoors, inspect piles of wood, old stumps and trees with rotted wood. Branches hanging over and touching the roof of the house may be inviting outdoor ants to enter the building.

• Chemical Control -You can get some reduction in ant numbers by applying pesticides to baseboards, moldings, sills and behind appliances. Due to recent regulatory changes, there are fewer products available for use by someone without a pesticide applicator’s license. Pressurized aerosol sprays are not designed to give effective, longlasting ant control, so we do not recommend them for carpenter ants.

Bait cups for ants are widely available. Except in spring, it may be hard to get carpenter ants to consume baits, however. Gel and liquid bait forms are probably more effective than granules for carpenter ants; a sugary bait is best. Bait cups are not an effective approach for serious carpenter ant infestations, however. If you see large numbers of ants indoors and suspect a severe infestation, we recommend consulting a licensed pest control firm. Professional exterminators have access to stronger, longer-lasting pesticides not available to the general public.

Perimeter sprays around the outside of foundations, windows and doors may kill foraging ants and help keep outdoor ants from migrating indoors. New products available to the general public contain very low concentrations of different active ingredients and may not be as effective as those available to licensed pesticide applicators.

AS ALWAYS, PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL PRECAUTIONS AND DIRECTIONS ON THE LABEL. Read the label on every pesticide container each time before using the material. Pesticides must be applied only as directed on the label to be in compliance with the law. All pesticides listed in this publication are contingent upon continued registration.

Regards,

Laura