An infestation of Asian super ants, known to chomp their way through electrical cables and spark fires, has been found at a north London home.
The colony of the insects, discovered in Hendon, Barnet, last week, are believed to be the first of the rare insects seen in the capital.
The ants, known as Lasisus Neglectus, have an attraction to electricity and chew through cables causing fires in homes.
It is the second time the ants have been found in the UK and it unknown how they came to end up in London.
Inside the home in Hendon, pest control found the ants inside the microwave and other electrical equipment, as well as the garden and bedroom.
Chris Davis, service and technical manager for Clean Kill, who helped get rid of the pests, said the discovery of the nests meant the super ants were spreading across the UK.
He told the Mail Online: “They were all over the place, I thought 'this was not right', the behaviour was all wrong.
"We sent samples over for identification, they eventually came back that it was this unusual species which seems to have a bit of a liking to vibrations of electrical currents. We found them around the microwave and places like that."
A spokesman from the company said the ants are harder to kill because they form huge colonies, consisting of tens of thousands of ants in interconnected tests.
Jo Hodgkins, a wildlife and countryside adviser at the National Trust, told The Telegraph: “The problems with them are they seem to get attracted to electricity and they can take up residence in plug sockets and power sources, creating a fire hazard.
“They can easily establish themselves in somewhere like Britain and I would not be surprised if they colonised other areas. They are pretty tough little creatures.”
