Carpenter ants (Camponotus piceus)

Camponotus piceus · Camponotus
Carpenter ants (Camponotus piceus). Recorded flying from May through July. Pitch-black body (piceus means pitch-colored), larger and more robust than the slender black workers.

When do carpenter ants fly?

Recorded flying from May through July.

Flight calendar

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Queen appearance

Pitch-black body (piceus means pitch-colored), larger and more robust than the slender black workers.
fast, erratic bursts
Founding care
Fully claustral: seal her in a test tube setup, somewhere dark and undisturbed. She raises the first brood on her own wing muscles and needs no food or opening until the first workers appear.
Needs a winter diapause: a cool, dark rest period each year.
Diet: Insects, meat, sugar water, honey etc.
Intermediate · Queen ~7-10 mm
Read more on AntWiki →
Care data from antkeeping.info (CC BY 4.0).

Habitat

Dead wood · also under bark · typical for this genus
Check logs, stumps and dead branches for landed queens. Look over dead trunks for queens exploring the bark.

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