Banded sugar ant colony can be long-lived, with queens living for seven years or more. The black carpenter ant ("Camponotus pennsylvanicus") is known to adopt larvae and pupae from banded sugar ant colonies. Workers that belong to different matrilines (female ancestry) appear significantly different from each other in size. Matrilines are also said to influence caste determination within the species. The banded sugar ant is considered a household pest and is occasionally seen in houses at night, capable of damaging furniture and fittings by chewing the wood; carbon disulphide is used to treat and remove a banded sugar ant nest. These ants do
Leafcutter ant virulent fungus, has the potential to devastate an ant garden, as it is horizontally transmitted. "Escovopsis" was cultured, during colony foundation, in 6.6% of colonies. However, in one- to two-year-old colonies, almost 60% had "Escovopsis" growing in the fungal garden. In some parts of their range, leafcutter ants can be a serious agricultural pest, defoliating crops and damaging roads and farmland with their nest-making activities. For example, some "Atta" species are capable of defoliating an entire citrus tree in less than 24 hours. A promising approach to deterring attacks of the leafcutter ant "Acromyrmex lobicornis" on crops has been demonstrated.