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Photo#364855
Ant - Camponotus vicinus

Ant - Camponotus vicinus
Texhoma, Texas County, Oklahoma, USA
October 17, 2008
Size: ca. 13 mm

Images of this individual: tag all
Ant - Camponotus vicinus Ant - Camponotus vicinus Ant - Camponotus vicinus

Moved
Moved from Carpenter Ants.

Moved
Moved from Formicinae.

Carpenter ant worker.
Nice images of a "major" worker carpenter ant, genus Camponotus. I'm not adept at species ID on these, sorry.

 
Thanks Eric,
I have C. vicinus in yard but wasn't sure if it might be that sp., have never read that vicinus had both minor and major workers, maybe they all do.

 
They all do, yes
With the only exception of some very rare parasitic species without a normal worker caste, all Camponotus species have so-called polymorphic workers, i.e. size is higly variable and body proportions differ too. Major workers are not only larger, but with a much more massive head capsule than media and minor workers.
This one worker is definitely a major of one of the large species (subgenus Camponotus), but color pattern does not match with C. vicinus, whose head is always wholly black.

 
Thank Eric and Dr. Vermier,
I appreciate the information.

 
You're welcome...
But sometimes I can make mistakes. Upon closer examination (on a larger monitor than the one of my Netbook too), I saw the weak, but distinct, central carina on this worker's clypeus. Together with the somewhat flattened scapi (i.e the first antennal segments, before the "elbow") this indicates subgenus Tanaemyrmex, not Camponotus as I wrongly wrote.
Therefore, I think this major IS a C. vicinus after all. It would seem that some populations East of the Rockies do have a dark reddish head, just like the minor worker you posted in June and Dr Trager identified as C. vicinus.

 
Thank you Dr. Vernier,
Thank you again for the updated ID.

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