Habitat: In the Southeast, this ant inhabits open areas in sandy and occasionally other types of well-drained, often disturbed soils. In the West, apparently conspecific ants inhabit desert grassland and scrub, and chaparral. In Missouri, this ant is locally abundant in the sand prairie and savanna remnants of the Boot Heel region.

Natural History: D. flavus is diurnal and active, often when it is too hot for most other ants to forage on the surface. This species lives in single-nest, less populous colonies than D. smithi (hundreds, compared to thousands, of workers). Nests are in bare, sandy soil. Workers forage individually for small prey, insect carrion, and nectar and honeydew.