Carpenter Ants

(Camponotus pennsylvanicus)

The black carpenter ant is the largest and most common house-infesting carpenter ant in Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts. Individual workers range in size from 1/4 inch to 5/8 inch in length. Carpenter Ants get there name from the fact they build there nests in wood. They do not eat the wood like termites but excavate it to make there nest.

Biology

Mature black carpenter ant colonies contain 15,000 to 20,000 individuals. Carpenter ant colonies contain workers of multiple sizes. These large and small size variants are called "major" and "minor" workers. There are workers of intermediate size between the two extremes. Large colonies of black carpenter ants consist of a "parent" colony in a dead log or stump, with various "satellite" colonies occupying other pieces of wood somewhere nearby. The parent colony contains the egg-laying queen, whereas the satellite colonies contain workers, larvae and pupae only. Mature colonies produce winged ants. Winged ants disperse away from the mature colony to start new colonies. Most winged ants develop during late summer, spend the winter in the nest, and swarm the next spring. After swarming and mating, winged females drop to the ground, chew off their wings, and begin establishing new colonies. Immediately following mating, male winged carpenter ants perish and play no part in establishing a new colony.

Habits

Carpenter ants may become household pests by foraging for food indoors. The diet of carpenter ants includes living and dead insects, meat, fats and sweets of all kinds, including honeydew from aphids and nectar from plants. Foraging workers collect all the food for the colony and may travel up to 100 yards from the nest in search of food. Foraging activity is highest at night. Solitary ants seen during the day are usually scouts. Liquid food is ingested by ant workers and then regurgitated to other ants in the colony at a later time. Worker ants cannot eat solid food and must carry it back to the nest and feed it to the larvae. The larvae process the solid food and regurgitate it back to the other ants in liquid form.

Treatment