Boreal Carpenter Ant
 
Location: Jumpingpound Loop, AB
Date: June 25, 2006		                
      Photo 2

Carpenter Ants (workers and soldiers) around the entrance to their nest in a dead spruce tree.
Common Name:  Boreal Carpenter Ant

Latin Name:  Camponotus herculeanus (Linnaeus, 1758)
                        (J. Glasier, det.)

Length:  13 mm

Range:  Forested areas of Alberta

Habitat:  Chews galleries in decaying wood.

Time of year seen:  Summer

Diet: Aphid honeydew, plant juice & insects

Other: There are two species of Carpenter ants in Alberta.  The most common in forested areas is C. herculeanus (Linnaeus) while the other species,  C. noveboracensis (Fitch), is more common in aspen parkland.  Carpenter Ants typically construct their nests by excavating galleries in decaying trees, stumps or logs.  The ants do not eat wood and as such their diet consists of  aphid honeydew, plant juice and insects.  (Ives and Wong, 1992)

 
   
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