Yes, you may have seen a queen. They are much larger than the workers. But you didn't see "the" queen; you saw "a" queen. Unfortunately, these pesky ants have multiple queens. So getting rid of a queen doesn't doom a group. Argentines have a number of other tricks that make them one of our worst pests, such as tolerance for other nearby argentine ant groups. Researchers believe that there is just one (or at most only several) argentine ant "colonies" in Calif. What is we have ia a gigantic super colony that has spread ever since its first introduction from Argentina a century or more ago. They have eliminated many native ants. I hate Argentine ants!

RB

Ditto!

Double ditto!

Echo the ditto.

You may have seen a queen of a different species because Argentine queens usually disperse by "budding" rather than mating flights.

Budding is when an ant queen and many workers walk to a new place to establish a new colony.

I, for one, welcome our new Formicidae overlords. Resistance is futile, they colonize my yard as it dries during summer, exploiting every new soil crack. I just fight their aphid and whitefly colonies now, I gave up fighting the nests.

i am a BIG fan of KM Antpro to control them.

Argentine ants are worse than ever this summer. Mr Min and I have each gotten a mouth full of ants from our drinks. That is just shocking! We look every time before we take a drink now.
The thing the ants totally swarmed was a box that had bits of Chinese food in it so I guess they have eclectic tastes.
Are we the only ones feeling totally besieged? Min

It's worse because it was a dry winter. :(

Another reason to pray for rain.

A recent study has shown the Argentine ant might have peaked in power in California..native ants have found a way to fight back.
Google the good news to read it.