Description
and
Habits: The black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus,
is the most common carpenter ant species in New Jersey. Foraging
workers are 1/4 inch to 5/8 inch and black in color. Another species,
the rust-colored carpenter ant, Camponotus ferrugineus, is a
bit smaller and has a reddish-orange thorax with a black head and
abdomen. The most diagnostic characteristic of all carpenter ants is
they have a one-segmented pedicel (the segment between the thorax and
the abdomen). The profile of the thorax is evenly rounded and not
bumpy.
Most
carpenter ant workers are polymorphic—which means they are different
sizes. Entomologist refer to larger workers as "major" workers and the
smaller workers as "minor" workers. Each colony has at least one
"queen," the reproductive member that produces all additional members
of the colony. There may be more than one queen in a colony.
When a colony
gets very large (six- to ten-years-old and has more than
2000 workers), it may produce winged reproductives, called swarmers.
They are often produced during the summertime and may overwinter in the
colony. In New Jersey, we have people reporting swarms of the
rusty-colored carpenter ants during periods of warmer weather from
February to April. The black carpenter ants swarm a bit later and is
more commonly observed from March to June, but we have seen swarming of
both species during most warmer months. The males often emerge first
and are smaller than the females.
After
mating,
a single queen seeks out a suitable nesting site and lays
only a few eggs that hatch into maggot-like larvae. She cares for the
larvae that become the colony's first workers, forage for food, and
feed the young while the queen continues laying eggs.
The
diet of carpenter ants is quite varied and includes living and dead
insects, honeydew from aphids, sweets, meat, and fats. They do not eat
wood. Workers leave the colony in late afternoon or early
evening,
forage during the night, and return to the colony in the early morning
hours.
Carpenter
ants carry food back to the nest intact or ingested and later feed it
to non-foraging members in the nest. These ants may forage up to 100
yards from the nest to search for food. Carpenter ants may become pests
in houses by foraging for food. The greatest concern, however, is they
may cause serious damage to wood in the structure. Unlike termites,
they do not feed upon wood, but merely use it as a place to nest.
Carpenter ants construct their nests in
hollow trees, logs, posts, landscaping timbers, and wood used in homes
and other structures. These ants prefer to infest wood that is moist
and rotting, but wood that has been wet previously, may be soft enough
to allow carpenter ants to hollow it out and produce a colony. Certain
parts of a house such as: Around and under windows, roof eaves, decks,
and porches are more likely to be infested by carpenter ants.
Carpenter
ants will use an old abandoned nest or wood that has been "hollowed
out" by termites. Nests may be located in hollow doors or small void
areas produced during construction.
Carpenter
ants may move from decaying portions of the wood into sound lumber in
the process of enlarging the nest. They cut galleries with the grain
following the softer parts of the wood. The ants leave harder parts of
the wood as walls separating the tunnels and cut openings in these
walls to allow access between tunnels. Access to the outside may be
through natural openings, or the ants may cut openings where none exist
naturally.
Carpenter
ants keep occupied galleries clean. They remove wood in the form of a
coarse sawdust-like material, which they push from the nest. This often
results in a cone-shaped pile accumulating just below the nest entrance
hole. This pile may include, in addition to the wood fragments, other
debris from the nest, including bits of soil, dead ants, parts of
insects and remnants of other food they ate.
Certain
parts of a home are more likely to be infested by carpenter ants.
Carpenter Ants can nest in numerous areas
within the infrastructure of your home. They simply love moisture.
Particularly
wet wood around windowsills and doorframes as well as sub-roofing and
sub-flooring in kitchen and bathroom areas. They can also
nest inside
hollow
closet doors among many other common areas. Refer to the
following diagram for the most common problem areas of a
home.
