Gosh... I think I posted this in the wrong forum, pests and diseases. Looking at this forum I see much more talk about bugs. I am going to post it here. I hope a mod will erase the other.

I posted on the gardenweb in the past about snow throwers and I found this site extremely helpful. I looked for the most appropriate forum to post this question. Hopefully this is it!

I found some flying ants in my basement the other day. I am not sure about the ID. Been researching on the Web, but none match 100%!

The ants I have are about a 1/4 long and brown in color. They stink like lemons or citronella when crushed. They have one lobe between the thorax and the abdomine. So far they sound exactly like big yellow ants, also called foundation or citronella ants. Where they differ is that the Thorax on my ants are even and the big yellow are supposed to be uneven. Also states that they have small eyes. The winged variety that I have seem to have eyes that match photos of carpenter ants, though it is hard to tell from photos.

So that leave carpenter ants. Carpenter ants match better because of the thorax shape. I read that carpenter ants can smell like strong formic acid. I never smelled formic acid. I wonder if it smells close to lemon or citronella? Where do mine not match carpenter ants? Well I found out that you can id an ant by the amount of segments on its' antennae and carpenter ants have 12 segments. Mine only have 10 or 11 depending on where you start counting.

I called my friends' brother in law who is a retired exterminator. I explained the ants to him, this was before I knew about the big yellows, and he said that they could be carpenter ants. Of course he did not see them. I told him that they are not coming from the wood, but from the foundation. He said that carpenter ants do that too.

I am totally confused.

Another reason that I think that they might be big yellow is that the web states that they live in foundations and under concrete slabs. Mine are coming up from the foundation, but not near an outside wall, but adjacent to my living room which is a slab.

Here is a link to a few photos of my ants. Can anyone ID these from my description and photos?

http://www.pbase.com/Ken_5/ant

Thanks!