Carpenter Ants are one of
our most common ants. They are found in dead wood, such as
trees, fallen logs, stumps, or even in houses.
Carpenter Ants are mostly
black, usually ranging from 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch. They
sometimes have a brown thorax
(middle section). If you look carefully, you can see
yellowish hairs on the abdomen
(back section).
The queen ant is larger,
up to 3/4 inch. "Swarmers," winged male and female ants who
are born in the Spring in order to mate are also about 3/4
inch.
Jim Kalisch
Carpenter Ants live in
colonies. When the swarmers leave a colony in the Spring,
males and females will mate. The males will then die and the
females will lose their wings.
Each wingless female will
try to become queen of a new colony. She will first seek out
a good site, usually moist dead wood which has been weakened
by fungus.
Once she has found a good
site, she will lay up to 20 eggs.
Carpenter Ants go through
several stages. They will develop as eggs for about three
weeks. Then they will spend approximately another three
weeks as larvae.
Carpenter Ant larvae are small, white, and legless,
resembling maggots (fly larvae). They will spend a final
three weeks as pupae.
This is the resting stage where they will form a small tan
capsule, before emerging as adult ants.
The ants which come out
of the pupae will be female worker ants. They are sterile
(unable to breed).
These workers will eat fluid given to them from the queen.
When they are strong enough, they will begin gathering food
and enlarging the nest. The queen will also lay more eggs,
and the workers will care for them. The queen's only job now
is to lay eggs.
All of the new eggs will become
female workers. In a few years, there will be thousands of ants in
the colony. Two "levels" of workers will form: major workers and
minor workers. Major workers will guard the nest, battle intruders,
explore, and find food. Minor workers will expand the nest, and care
for the young.
When a worker finds food, she will
leave a scent trail on her way back to the colony. When she arrives,
she will wiggle her abodomen to let other workers know she found
food. They will then go out and follow her trail to the food
source.
Workers in the nest will
regurgitate
(throw up) food for the queen and the
larvae.
After a few years, when
the colony has become successfull, the nest has been
expanded, and thousands of ants are present, the queen will
produce eggs which will become swarmers. These males and
females will mate and continue the cycle.
Carpenter Ants eat mostly
honeydew.
Honeydew is a secretion from insects called aphids. Another group of
insects which make honeydew used by ants are scale insects. Besides
honeydew, Carpenter Ants will eat nectar
from flowers, fruit juice, other insects, and even dead Carpenter
Ants from their own colony. These ants look for food mostly at night,
but they rarely travel more than 100 yards away from the
nest.
Only one queen will be in a single
colony. She will lay thousands of eggs in her lifetime, including
swarmers, some of which will become queens in new
colonies.
Carpenter Ants do not eat wood,
they only dig out galleries (rooms and hallways) in it. Special
chambers are used to store eggs, larvae, and pupae as they
grow.
Carpenter Ants are an important
food source for woodpeckers and other animals. Pileated Woodpeckers
are known for rooting out and swallowing entire colonies.
Carpenter Ants are helpful to
people because they help break down dead wood, such as old trees,
stumps, and logs. They can also be a pest
when they enter homes or start colonies in man-made wooden objects,
such as walls or poles. Usually this wood is already damaged, but the
ants can make it worse.
