Moisture ants get their name from their habit of nesting in high-moisture areas. Some people call them yellow ants because the workers are yellowish in color. There are several species in the United States. One of the largest species is Lasius interjectus (Mayr), also known as the citronella ant.
Moisture ants are common from the Pacific Northwest to New England. Their range extends southward to Florida and Mexico. Outdoors, they often nest under rocks or logs. They sometimes nest above the ground in rotting logs. Moisture ants feed on honeydew. The workers get honeydew from aphids and scale insects that feed on plant roots. Moisture ants often tend aphids to collect the honeydew that they produce. Some moisture ant colonies make their nests against the foundation of homes. When colonies are under slabs, the ants often push soil up through cracks in the concrete while they are digging galleries underneath. When this soil appears in basement floors, it can cause distress for the homeowners. Many people mistake this soil for a sign of termite activity.

When moisture ants move indoors, they often nest in wood that is moisture damaged. They frequently find damaged wood in areas like bath traps. They sometimes nest inside walls where there is a plumbing leak. There have been cases of these ants nesting in damp soil in crawlspaces. In these situations, the workers made mounds of excavated soil in the crawl space.