Everything about them (mound shape, behavior) screams Fire Ants except they
don't look like Fire Ants (also known as Red Harvester Ants) because they
are not red.
Agreed Charlie. They are probably a "fire ant" which is a common name
for several species of ants in the genus /Solenopsis/. This includes
_the_ fire ant imported from SA. The ones in Jim's yard don't look like
the imported ones. At least from the images I can come up with, e.g. <
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Fire_ants_01.jpg/330px-Fire_ants_01.jpg>
But they aren't around here and I have no personal experience. Plenty of
ants around here that appear similar to Jim's photos and which are
harmless. I'm only only armed with enough info from duckduckgo to be
dangerous. Maybe they have hybridized, maybe they come in different
color variations. I suggest that Jim go out and stick his arm in the
mound to find out if he just gets bit or if he gets stung.
M
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