"Sugar ant" is a catch-all term Floridians use for small ants attracted to sweets and food — most commonly ghost ants, odorous house ants (Tapinoma sessile), and pavement ants. These species share similar foraging behavior: they trail along baseboards and countertops, swarm spills and food crumbs, and enter homes through the smallest cracks.
Odorous house ants are identifiable by the rotten coconut smell they emit when crushed. They nest in wall voids, under floors, and in soil near the foundation. Like ghost ants, they form large multi-queen colonies and split readily when sprayed with repellent products. Effective treatment depends on correct identification — ghost ants respond to sweet bait while pavement ants are better targeted with protein bait. Treating the wrong species with the wrong bait type extends the problem rather than solving it.