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Genus Camponotus (Subfamily Formicinae) - Online Catalog of Ants of North America

Genus Camponotus (Formicinae)






Camponotus americanus Mayr. This species prefers to nest in the soil, usually under stones or rotten logs but sometimes nests under litter (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1425).



Camponotus chromaiodes Bolton. Nests are located in and beneath well-rotted logs and stumps with galleries often extending into the soil. They have also been found in dead standing trees and occasionally in moist or faulty wood in buildings (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1425). Its common name is the Red Carpenter Ant.



Camponotus herculeanus (Linnaeus). This is probably the dominant ant in the forests of boreal and alpine North America. Large colonies are found in rotting logs and stumps, especially conifers (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1426). Colonies are monogynous or oligogynous (multiple egg laying queens but each with their own territory within the colony), and colony size can reach 12,000 workers (Akre & Hansen, 1994. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 67: 1-9).



Camponotus laevigatus (Smith). Camponotus laevigatus is found in wooded and forested areas where it nests in rotting logs and stumps (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1426).



Camponotus modoc Wheeler. This ant is found in forested areas where it makes its nests in rotting logs and stumps. Colonies are monogynous with colony size reaching 50,000 workers (Akre & Hansen, 1994. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 67: 1-9). Foraging is often nocturnal (Tilles & Wood, 1986. Can. Entomol. 118: 862).



Camponotus noveboracensis (Fitch). This species prefers wooded areas where it normally nests in rotting logs and stumps. Colony size can reach to about 10,000 workers (Akre & Hansen, 1994. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 67: 1-9).



Camponotus pennsylvanicus (De Geer). Nests are found in live and dead trees, rotting logs and stumps, and in wood products such as fences, telegraph poles, and buildings (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1427). Colonies are monogynous. The maximum reported colony size is about 3000 workers although this may be a severe underestimate due to the polydomous structure of the nest (Akre & Hansen, 1994. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 67: 1-9). During the hottest months of the summer, foraging activity shifts to be primarily nocturnal (Sanders, 1972. Can Entomol. 104: 1681-1687; Klotz, 1984. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 57: 111-118). This is by far and away the most abundant Camponotus in the North Atlantic and Midwest. It shows a range of adaptation to temperature and humidity second only to Lasius alienus and Formica subsericea (Wheeler, W.M. 1910g: 337). It is also the first native North American ant to be described, and its common name is the Black Carpenter Ant.



Camponotus quercicola Smith. Nests are found in dead limbs of Quercus agrifolia, and it is a nocturnal forager (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1427).



Camponotus schaefferi Wheeler. This species nests in dead oak limbs at elevations of about 5000 to 8000 feet (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1428).



Camponotus texanus Wheeler. Nests have been found in oak logs (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1428).



Genus Camponotus (Colobopsis) (Formicinae)






Camponotus (Colobopsis) cerberulus Emery.

Camponotus (Colobopsis) etiolatus Wheeler. Nests have been found in insect galls and in twigs of trees (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1433).



Camponotus (Colobopsis) hunteri Wheeler. The type collection was taken from twig of a pecan tree(Smith, D.R. 1979: 1433).



Camponotus (Colobopsis) impressus (Roger). Colonies have been found in culms of sedges (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1433).



Camponotus (Colobopsis) mississippiensis Smith.


Camponotus (Colobopsis) obliquus Smith. This ant has been found nesting in a hickory nut (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1433).



Camponotus (Colobopsis) papago Creighton. This ant is sluggish and slow moving and presumed to forage nocturnally. Colonies are found in the limbs of mesquite trees. The mating flights occur during July (Creighton, 1953c).



Camponotus (Colobopsis) pylartes fraxinicola Smith.


Camponotus (Colobopsis) pylartes pylartes Wheeler. Colonies are found in twigs and spines of trees and shrubs (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1434).



Genus Camponotus (Myrmaphaenus) (Formicinae)