Carpenter ant Information & Carpenter ant Links at HealthHaven.com

Carpenter ant
	Camponotus sp (Worker)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Arthropoda;
Class:	Insecta;
Order:	Hymenoptera;
Family:	Formicidae;
Subfamily:	Formicinae;
Tribe:	Camponotini;
Genus:	Camponotus;
Type species
	Formica ligniperda; Latreille, 1802
Speciesand here
	See text.
Diversity
	> 1,000 species

Carpenter ants are large (¼–1 in) ants indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to build nests. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out sections of trees. The most likely species to be infesting a house in the United States is the Black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus. However, there are over a thousand other species in the genus Camponotus.

[edit] Symbionts

All ants in this genus, and also some related genera, possess an obligate bacterial endosymbiont called Blochmannia.^[1] This bacterium has a small genome, and retains genes to biosynthesize essential amino acids and other nutrients. This suggests the bacterium plays a role in ant nutrition. Many Camponotus species are also infected with Wolbachia, another endosymbiont that is widespread across insect groups.

[edit] Habitat

Carpenter ant cleaning antennae

Carpenter ant species reside both outdoors and indoors in moist, decaying or hollow wood. They cut "galleries" into the wood grain to provide passageways for movement from section to section of the nest.

[edit] As Pests

Carpenter ants can damage wood used in the construction of buildings. They can leave a sawdust like material behind that provides clues to nesting location.

[edit] Exploding ants

In at least nine Southeast Asian species of the Cylindricus complex, such as Camponotus saundersi, workers feature greatly enlarged mandibular glands. They can release their contents suicidally by rupturing the intersegmental membrane of the gaster, resulting in a spray of toxic substance from the head, which gave these species the common name "exploding ants".^[2]

Its defensive behaviors include self-destruction by autothysis. Two oversized, poison-filled mandibular glands run the entire length of the ant's body. When combat takes a turn for the worse, the ant violently contracts its abdominal muscles to rupture its body and spray poison or glue in all directions.^[3]^[4] The ant has an enormously enlarged mandibular (abdomen) gland, many times the size of a normal ant, which produces the glue. The glue bursts out and entangles and immobilizes all nearby victims. ^[5]^[6]

The termite, Globitermes sulphureus has a similar defensive mechanism.^[7]

[edit] Selected species

See List of Camponotus species for a complete listing of species and subspecies.

C. pennsylvanicus (Winged Male)

Camponotus worker

wood damage by C. herculeanus

Camponotus atriceps – Florida carpenter ant; one of the many kinds of carpenter ants that can bite and release a painful acid.
Camponotus chromaiodes – red carpenter ant
Camponotus consobrinus – sugar ant
Camponotus crassus Mayr, 1862
Camponotus ferrugineus (Fab.) – red carpenter ant
Camponotus flavomarginatus Mayr, 1862
Camponotus gigas – Giant forest ant
Camponotus herculeanus
Camponotus kaura
Camponotus ligniperda – an important species in Europe
Camponotus nearcticus (Emery) – smaller carpenter ant
Camponotus novaeboracensis Region of Québec, black and red
Camponotus pennsylvanicus (DeGeer) – black carpenter ant
Camponotus punctulatus (Mayr) – Tacuru ant
Camponotus saundersi – Malaysia
Camponotus sericeus
Camponotus taino
Camponotus vagus
Camponotus variegatus – Hawai'ian carpenter ant

[edit] References

^ http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2206011
^ Jones, T.H.; Clark, D.A.; Edwards, A.A.; Davidson, D.W.; Spande, T.F. and Snelling, Roy R. (2004): "The Chemistry of Exploding Ants, Camponotus spp. (Cylindricus complex)". Journal of Chemical Ecology 30(8): 1479-1492. doi:10.1023/B:JOEC.0000042063.01424.28
^ Emery, Carlo (1889). Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine. XX. Formiche di Birmania e del Tenasserim raccolte da Leonardo Fea (1885-87). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) 2 7(27): 485-520. [PDF]
^ "Utahn enters world of exploding ants". Deseret News. September11, 2002. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/936318/?pg=2. University of Utah graduate student Steve Cook explained "They've been called kamikaze ants by other researchers because they tend to explode or self-destruct when they're attacked or harassed in any way."
^ Vittachi, Nury (June 6, 2008). "The Malaysian ant teaches us all how to go out with a bang". Daily Star (Dhaka). http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=39830.
^ Ridley, Mark (1995). Animal Behaviour (Second ed.). Blackwell Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 0-86542-390-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=IbT2pd_p8AUC&pg=PA2&dq=%22Camponotus+saundersi%22#v=onepage&q=%22Camponotus%20saundersi%22&f=false. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
^ Robert S. Anderson, Richard Beatty, Stuart Church. "Insects and Spiders of the World". p. 543. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V1h8nqFXjN8C&pg=PA543.

[edit] Further reading

Mayr, Gustav (1861): Die europäischen Formiciden. Vienna. PDF — original description of p.35
McArthur, Archie J (2007): A Key to Camponotus Mayr of Australia. In: Snelling, R.R., B.L. Fisher & P.S. Ward (eds). Advances in ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): homage to E.O. Wilson - 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 80. PDF — 91 species, 10 subspecies

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Camponotus

University of Kentucky Extension Fact Sheet
Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet
Black Carpenter Ants Diagnostic large format photographs, information
compact carpenter ant, Camponotus planatus on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
Florida carpenter ant complex, Camponotus floridanus and C. tortuganus on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
Carpenter Ants An online supplemental to "Carpenter Ants: Biology and Control" by Laurel Hansen, Ph.D. of Spokane Falls Community College
"Species: Camponotus saundersi". antweb.org. http://www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=species&genus=camponotus&name=saundersi&project=southeastasiaants. Retrieved 2009-09-26. Photos of the exploding ant.

[blochman-0] ttp://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2206011

[1] Jones, T.H.; Clark, D.A.; Edwards, A.A.; Davidson, D.W.; Spande, T.F. and Snelling, Roy R. (2004): "The Chemistry of Exploding Ants, Camponotus spp. (Cylindricus complex)". Journal of Chemical Ecology 30(8): 1479-1492. doi:10.1023/B:JOEC.0000042063.01424.28

[2] Emery, Carlo (1889). Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine. XX. Formiche di Birmania e del Tenasserim raccolte da Leonardo Fea (1885-87). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) 2 7(27): 485-520. [PDF]

[3] "Utahn enters world of exploding ants". Deseret News. September11, 2002. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/936318/?pg=2. University of Utah graduate student Steve Cook explained "They've been called kamikaze ants by other researchers because they tend to explode or self-destruct when they're attacked or harassed in any way."

[vittachi-4] Vittachi, Nury (June 6, 2008). "The Malaysian ant teaches us all how to go out with a bang". Daily Star (Dhaka). http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=39830.

[ridley-5] Ridley, Mark (1995). Animal Behaviour (Second ed.). Blackwell Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 0-86542-390-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=IbT2pd_p8AUC&pg=PA2&dq=%22Camponotus+saundersi%22#v=onepage&q=%22Camponotus%20saundersi%22&f=false. Retrieved 2009-09-26.

[anderson-6] Robert S. Anderson, Richard Beatty, Stuart Church. "Insects and Spiders of the World". p. 543. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V1h8nqFXjN8C&pg=PA543.

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