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Genus Camponotus - Carpenter Ants
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Formicoidea (Ants)
Family Formicidae (Ants)
Subfamily Formicinae
Tribe Camponotini
Genus Camponotus (Carpenter Ants)
Pronunciation cam-poh-NOH-tus Explanation of Names Camponotus Mayr 1861
"flat back", referring to the flattened or weakly curved dorsal mesosomal profile of most Northern Hemisphere species
Numbers 50 spp. in our area, >1000 described spp. total grouped in 45 subgenera (1)Size workers polymorphic, from 4‒7 mm in small species, 7‒13+ mm in large species; queens 9‒20 mm, males 5‒13 mm Identification Species are most easily identified from the major workers. Many are large ants; all have antennal bases separated from clypeal border by a space at least equal to the maximum diameter of the scape, mesosomal dorsal profile of most a continuous curve from pronotum through propodeum,except some subgenus Colobopsis and one of Myrmentoma. The former are easily recognized by the truncate and heavily punctate circumoral portion of the head of majors. Range worldwide, except polar regions Habitat Forested areas, fewer but also present in deserts, grasslands and boreal forest, some also in urban and suburban areas; may build galleries in wood, or inhabit within-wall spaces in buildings. Most Myrmentoma and all Colobopsis are strictly arboreal, while most Tanaemyrmex and some others nest in soil. The rest vary or occur somewhere in between. Season Active during the frost-free season in the north, all year during warm weather in southernmost USA. Species of colder regions enter a deep diapause in winter, characterized by a physiological state that permits them to supercool to temperatures well below freezing without themselves freezing. Mating flights of the majority of species occur late April-May, but subgenus Colobopsis and subtropical and desert species fly in summer, the latter often following monsoon rains. Food Omnivorous. Do not eat wood, only nest in it after fungi have softened it. Remarks Ant taxonomists generally consider the subgeneric classification of this group as a shambles, filled with unsubtantiated and arbitrary divisions. there are also questions about the monophyly of this huge group, and its separation from another large group, the Old World genus Polyrhachis. Fortunately, most of the North American species fit fairly easily into the subgenera represented here.
" Camponotus species are often called "carpenter ants" because many species nest in dry or moist rotten wood, and some may nest in wooden houses, sheds, etc. However, in the East, C. americanus and C. castaneus nest in soil, and in the West, numerous species (except most in the subgenera Camponotus and Myrmentoma) nest in soil." [James Trager's comment.] |
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