''Camponotus nearcticus'', commonly named smaller carpenter ant is a relatively small

carpenter ant Carpenter ants (''Camponotus'' spp.) are large () ants indigenous to many forested parts of the world. They build nests inside wood consisting of galleries chewed out with their mandibles or jaws, preferably in dead, damp wood. However, unl ...

. Its appearance is similar of that to ''Lasius niger'', commonly named the

black garden ant The black garden ant (''Lasius niger''), also known as the common black ant, is a formicine ant, the type species of the subgenus ''Lasius'', which is found across Europe and in some parts of North America, South America, Asia and Australasia. ...

. The ant is a household pest.

Identification

Workers can range from in length. The queen ant's size can range from . This species can be distinguished from other subgenus by little amounts of erect hairs on the gena, limited erect hairs on the clypeal disc and finally by the color which is a concolorous dark brown-black.

Distribution and habitat

''Camponotus nearcticus'' colonies can be found in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They can be found in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and extend south from

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Prairies Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

and woodlands are preferred habitats for ''Camponotus nearcticus'' ants. This ranges from deciduous forests, oaks and other pine forests. Colonies can be found in dead twigs, branches, logs, bark from trees in various conditions, pine cones and in wooden regions in buildings, usually around rooftops. Nests are small, consisting of only a few hundred individuals. However, a large nest which was studied on consisted of 531 individuals, not including the nests brood, and also reproductives were usually seen in nests from March to October. The ant is considered a household pest.

References

External links

''Camponotus nearcticus''
entry at

AntWeb AntWeb is the leading online database on ants: storing specimens images and records, and natural history information, and documenting over 490,000 specimens across over 35,000 taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plura ...

* nearcticus Hymenoptera of North America Insects of Canada Insects of the United States Insects described in 1893 Household pest insects {{formicinae-stub