Carpenter ant

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Carpenter ant

Camponotus herculeanus (Worker)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus

Diversity

> 1,000 species

Type species

Formica ligniperda
Latreille, 1802

Species

See text.

Carpenter ants are large ants (¼ in–1 in) indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to build nests. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out sections of trees. The most likely species to be infesting a house is the Black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus. However, there are over a thousand other species in the genus Camponotus.

1 Symbionts
2 Habitat
3 Exploding ants
4 Selected Species
5 Footnotes
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

[edit] Symbionts

All ants in this genus, and also some related genera, possess an obligate bacterial endosymbiont called Blochmannia. This bacterium has a small genome, and retains genes to biosynthesize essential amino acids and other nutrients. This suggests the bacterium plays a role in ant nutrition. Many Camponotus species are also infected with Wolbachia, another endosymbiont that is widespread across insect groups.

[edit] Habitat

Resides both outdoors and indoors in moist, decaying or hollow wood. They cut "galleries" into the wood grain to provide passageways for movement from section to section of the nest. Can leave "sawdust" behind that provides clues to nesting location. If this wooden complex happens to be a wall frame within your home, structural damage may result. Moisture is the key component to look for, when managing this species.^[1]

[edit] Exploding ants

In at least nine Southeast Asian species of the Cylindricus complex, such as Camponotus saundersi, workers feature greatly enlarged mandibular glands. They can release their contents suicidally by rupturing the intersegmental membrane of the gaster, resulting in a spray of toxic substance from the head, which gave these species the common name "exploding ants".^[2]

[edit] Selected Species

See List of Camponotus species for a complete listing of species and subspecies.

C. pennsylvanicus (Winged Male)

Camponotus queen

wood damage by C. herculeanus

Camponotus atriceps — Florida carpenter ant; one of the many kinds of carpenter ants that can bite and release a painful acid.
Camponotus chromaiodes — red carpenter ant
Camponotus consobrinus — sugar ant
Camponotus crassus Mayr, 1862
Camponotus ferrugineus (Fab.) — red carpenter ant
Camponotus gigas — Giant forest ant
Camponotus herculeanus
Camponotus kaura
Camponotus ligniperda — an important species in Europe
Camponotus nearcticus (Emery) — smaller carpenter ant
Camponotus pennsylvanicus (DeGeer) — black carpenter ant
Camponotus punctulatus (Mayr) — Tacuru ant
Camponotus saundersi — Malaysia
Camponotus sericeus
Camponotus taino
Camponotus variegatus — Hawai'ian carpenter ant

[edit] Footnotes

^ http://nopests.com/bug_carp_ant.shtml
^ Jones et al. 2004

[edit] References

Jones, T.H.; Clark, D.A.; Edwards, A.A.; Davidson, D.W.; Spande, T.F. & Snelling, Roy R. (2004): The Chemistry of Exploding Ants, Camponotus spp. (Cylindricus complex). Journal of Chemical Ecology 30(8): 1479-1492. doi:10.1023/B:JOEC.0000042063.01424.28

[edit] Further reading

Mayr, Gustav (1861): Die europäischen Formiciden. Vienna. PDF — original description of p.35
McArthur, Archie J (2007): A Key to Camponotus Mayr of Australia. In: Snelling, R.R., B.L. Fisher & P.S. Ward (eds). Advances in ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): homage to E.O. Wilson - 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 80. PDF — 91 species, 10 subspecies