Carpenter Ant - Camponotus

Thanks, Brendon and James

How can you tell it's a male?

… Karl Hillig, 6 March, 2013 - 4:08pm

Males

There are a few general characteristics which let you know a specimen is a male. For people with experience with ants, the form of the head usually gives it away. Male ants tend to have heads which look like they've been squeezed really hard, bulging the eyes out a bit. Next on the experienced side are features of the mandibles and antennae. Male ants often have thirteen antennomeres, whereas workers never have thirteen. Male mandibles come in many shapes and sizes (like workers), but in many genera the male mandibles are reduced or spatulate. Finally the most unambiguous trait is the presence of male genitalia. If the winged specimen has a stinger, then it is a female. If the winged specimen has bizarre looking doohickeys coming out of the abdominal apex(and/or visible cerci) then the question is settled, and the specimen is a male.
Plus: Male ants just look goofy :P

… Brendon E. Boudinot, 6 March, 2013 - 4:46pm

Males pt 2

In this case the wings and "goofy head" gave it away to me as a male. Regarding wings, virtually all males an amateur ant nerd will find are winged. Some genera have apterous (or "ergatoid") males, but usually you will find these via collecting nests.

… Brendon E. Boudinot, 6 March, 2013 - 4:49pm

Thanks for the goofy explanation!

Is the sculptured pronotum on this ant also a male thing? I don't see "shoulder mounds" on other ants in the genus (but I haven't looked at every photo).

… Karl Hillig, 6 March, 2013 - 5:53pm

Although differences might exist between the sexes of a single species in the sculpturation of the mesosoma, I have found no consistent difference which indicates the sex of the specimen. Are the little "shoulder mounds" you're referring to the tegulae? If so, winged females also have those. (And only one paper, to my knowledge, has discussed variation in the tegulae of ants, and that only at higher taxonomic levels. Refer to Ogata 1991, Bull. Inst. Trop. Agr., Kyushu Univ., 14: 61-149.)

… Brendon E. Boudinot, 6 March, 2013 - 5:59pm

Actually ...

I was referring to the two lumps that look like hooters (only on the wrong side) in the dorsal view.

… Karl Hillig, 6 March, 2013 - 6:08pm

Ohhhh!

Ok, well, that would be something which varies interspecifically. Without knowing the species of this carpenter ant male (and a species-level det. is very very unlikely at this time) I couldn't say if the female also had those (although it is more probable that she does not).

… Brendon E. Boudinot, 6 March, 2013 - 6:19pm

Moved

Moved from Ants.

… James C. Trager, 6 March, 2013 - 4:05pm

This is a male of Camponotus. Hopefully someone will have the time to work through the material in some of the big east coast collections and write a key to nearctic Camponotus males. (Shouldn't be too hard!)

… Brendon E. Boudinot, 6 March, 2013 - 12:24pm