carpenter ant

Carpenter ant
Camponotus sp (Worker)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Camponotus
Type species
Formica ligniperda Latreille, 1802
Speciesand here
See text.
Diversity
> 1,000 species

Carpenter ants are large (¼–1 in) ants 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 in the United States is the Black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus. However, there are over a thousand other species in the genus Camponotus.

Symbionts

All ants in this genus, and also some related genera, possess an obligate bacterial endosymbiont called Blochmannia.^[1] 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.

Habitat

Carpenter ant cleaning antennae

Carpenter ant species reside 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.

As Pests

Carpenter ants can damage wood used in the construction of buildings. They can leave a sawdust like material behind that provides clues to nesting location.

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]

Its defensive behaviors include self-destruction by autothysis. Two oversized, poison-filled mandibular glands run the entire length of the ant's body. When combat takes a turn for the worse, the ant violently contracts its abdominal muscles to rupture its body and spray poison or glue in all directions.^[3][4] The ant has an enormously enlarged mandibular (abdomen) gland, many times the size of a normal ant, which produces the glue. The glue bursts out and entangles and immobilizes all nearby victims. ^[5][6]

The termite, Globitermes sulphureus has a similar defensive mechanism.^[7]

Selected species

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

C. pennsylvanicus (Winged Male)

Camponotus worker

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 flavomarginatus Mayr, 1862
• Camponotus gigas – Giant forest ant
• Camponotus herculeanus
• Camponotus kaura
• Camponotus ligniperda – an important species in Europe
• Camponotus nearcticus (Emery) – smaller carpenter ant
• Camponotus novaeboracensis Region of Québec, black and red
• Camponotus pennsylvanicus (DeGeer) – black carpenter ant
• Camponotus punctulatus (Mayr) – Tacuru ant
• Camponotus saundersi – Malaysia
• Camponotus sericeus
• Camponotus taino
• Camponotus vagus
• Camponotus variegatus – Hawai'ian carpenter ant

References

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Camponotus

• University of Kentucky Extension Fact Sheet
• Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet
• Black Carpenter Ants Diagnostic large format photographs, information
• compact carpenter ant, Camponotus planatus on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Florida carpenter ant complex, Camponotus floridanus and C. tortuganus on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Carpenter Ants An online supplemental to "Carpenter Ants: Biology and Control" by Laurel Hansen, Ph.D. of Spokane Falls Community College
• "Species: Camponotus saundersi". antweb.org. http://www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=species&genus=camponotus&name=saundersi&project=southeastasiaants. Retrieved 2009-09-26.  Photos of the exploding ant.