Flying ants bug Scots

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Warm, wet weather has produced swarms of flying ants in Scotland's capital, much to the chagrin of Edinburgh residents.

The Edinburgh City Council has been inundated with complaints about the swarms while local stores are finding it impossible to keep ant repellent sprays in stock, The Scotsman reported Monday.

Experts emphasize the ants are harmless and say the winged insects are common black ants that often appear in July and August.

"The reason you see so many of them is that every colony does this at the same time, so you get thousands mating at once," says Richard Lyszkowski, assistant curator of entomology at the National Museum of Scotland.

Lyszkowski says the mating ritual usually begins on a humid day following a period of heavy rainfall when all the ants leave the nest at the same time and mate in the air.

"The males quickly die and the females shed their wings after mating which is why you will see a lot of them on the floor," he explained.