Black Carpenter Ant - Camponotus pennsylvanicus? - Formica

Moved

… Nick Fensler, 16 August, 2007 - 7:25am

Formica sp. (fusca group) - alate queen

Obviously, my previous comment has remained unnoticed. Maybe the title was misleading, letting believe that I confirmed first identification.
Formica subsericea, one of the few South-Eastern all black species, is a suitable candidate.
It would be very kind of the author of the post - or else someone with editor status - to move this reproductive Formica female from the Camponotus pennsylvanicus page, where she's quite misplaced.

… Richard Vernier, 16 August, 2007 - 5:11am

Not sure.

Thi actually looks like an alate queen of a Formica species rather than Camponotus, but I don't know how anyone could tell positively from just this one image....

… Eric R. Eaton, 31 July, 2007 - 1:41pm

This can be told positively...

based on forewing venation, i.e. presence of a closed discoidal cell which rules out Camponotus. Thus your insight was right: this is an alate female Formica of the fusca group (Although not F. fusca itself, which by the way should not occur that far South) This one is an especially dark species with deeply infuscated wings - that's uncommon in this group where most species have hyaline or nearly hyaline wings.

… Richard Vernier, 31 July, 2007 - 9:43pm

I...

think it's more than a little strange that two of our best experts ID'd an ant to at least genus, even a species-group and nobody bothered to move it. Well, here you go guys...now this image is where it belongs.

… Nick Fensler, 16 August, 2007 - 7:27am