Carpenter ants (Camponotus vagus)

Camponotus vagus · Camponotus

Carpenter ants (Camponotus vagus). Recorded flying from April through June. Entirely jet-black with no contrasting segments. Recorded near 1 of the 190 locations Dealate tracks.

When do carpenter ants fly?

Recorded flying from April through June.

Flight calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Queen appearance

Entirely jet-black with no contrasting segments.

slow and deliberate but capable of fast bursts when disturbed

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 ~14-16 mm

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.

Recorded near

London, Brent, Islington, Reading, Southend-on-Sea, Brighton, Milton Keynes, City of Westminster, Northampton, Bexley, Luton, Barking, Archway, Sutton, Croydon, Ilford, Slough, Oxford, Enfield Town, Harrow, Cambridge, Basildon, High Wycombe, Colchester, Tottenham, Watford, Crawley, Worthing, Chelmsford, Walthamstow, Dagenham, Basingstoke, Maidstone, Bedford, Woking, Eastbourne, Gillingham, Becontree

More Camponotus species

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